Collaborative Supply Chain Planning in the Automotive Industry

Erdem Eskigun and Jeffrey Tew

General Motors Corporation


Developing a synchronized supply chain through collaboration for an automotive OEM is critical to the success of several initiatives underway in the automotive industry today.  However, achieving a successfully synchronized supply chain is an extremely difficult and daunting task in this environment due to the scale, complexity, and other key issues unique to the automotive supply chain environment.  In this talk, we attempt to: (a) summarize the current state of the automotive supply chain in North America, (b) discuss the directions that the industry is heading regarding supply chain management, (c) identify what the issues are that may present the greatest obstacles to OEM's in achieving their goals, and (d) identify a strategic plan for directing an automotive OEM toward a truly collaborative and synchronized supply chain.