GM e-Business Supply Chain Strategy

• e-business strategy of General Motors (GM) the world’s largest automobile manufacturer.
• GM’s need to adopt e-business in its manufacturing supply chain operations.
• Supply chain and demand chain
• Dis-advantages of GM’s e-business strategy.

GM facts
GM brands include
Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Daewoo, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, and Vauxhall.

General Motors GM was founded in 1908 as a holding company for Buick.

GM and e-Business Inititatives in Supply Chain

e-Business Initiative
General Motors Acceptance Corp. (GMAC) BuyPower
Retail.com/ Auto Centric
Onstar
The GM Owner Centre
DealerWorld
GMAC SmartAuction
Covisint
GM SupplyPower
Shared “Virtual Factory” Tools
Joint Product Design

E-business particularly facilitated supplier and customer collaborations into early design programmes and product conceptualisation stages. Business process reengineering led to increased process efficiency. Advantages were self-evident. GM trimmed down new vehicle launch time to mere 18 months, a significant reduction from three years earlier. With revenues touching almost USD 600 million per year, GM invested to revamp existing infrastructure. For example, LAN bandwidth was increased by 10 times, old legacy systems gave way to modern standardised systems.