Image

MBA Students Sample GM’s Supply Chain

Dec. 7, 2010
Comprehensive Logistics Inc. (CLI), a logistics service provider, recently hosted executive MBA students from Cleveland State University (CSU) on a tour of its logistics optimization center (LOC) in Austintown, Ohio.  The main attraction was how this 500,000 sq ft facility was being used to assist in the production of General Motors’ new Chevrolet Cruze.

CLI receives parts and components in more than 30 containers per day from hundreds of global suppliers and builds approximately 900 vehicle subassemblies a day for just-in-time delivery to General Motors’ plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The LOC also oversees scheduling, storage and retrieval, metering, sequencing, kitting, returnable containers and outbound transportation for the Cruze line.

At full capacity, the LOC will build more than 1,000 configurations—including front horizontal, vertical and rear suspension systems and headliner modules—per day to support the production of approximately 296,000 Cruze units per year.

The graduate students learned about CLI’s 55-second cycle time, its 40-micron quality standard and the vision systems and multiple error-proofing techniques that ensure compliance.

Alan Hicks, LOC plant manager, offered an overview of his company’s supply chain intelligence system, which provides clients with lot- and part-level visibility across the supply chain.

“The processes that were covered parallel our current course of study,” said Paul Dulick, executive MBA student at CSU. This program is led by former Logistics Today editor Perry Trunick, and covers supply management, push-pull systems, e-business issues, third-party logistics companies, distribution systems, purchasing, decision-support tools and other supply chain concepts.