GM Town Hall Features Purchasing and Engineering Executives
Dave Andrea, OESA

OESA will host a members-only town hall meeting with GM purchasing and engineering staffs on Nov. 16, 2011, at the Somerset Inn, Troy, Mich.  OESA members will have a unique opportunity to participate in an open question and answer session with Bob Socia, vice president, global purchasing and supply chain, John Calabrese, vice president, global vehicle engineering, and Sam Winegarden, vice president, global powertrain engineering, General Motors Company.  Additional GM personnel from each of the staffs will be available for informal conversations before and after the meeting.  This meeting is open to OESA regular and affiliate members only.

Nearly 400 executives attended the 2010 GM Town Hall.  As one attendee from the 2010 town hall noted, “The Q-and-A session was good, and I applaud the turnout of GM staff; I counted 22 people from GM here, very impressive.”  The town hall format provides many opportunities for individual customer conversations regarding supplier-specific topics as well as dialogue on issues affecting all suppliers.  As another 2010 attendee noted, “Plenty of things to improve, but the openness of taking all questions is a start toward improved relationships.”

Without a doubt, the past 30 months have been transformational for GM; it is operating with a significantly lower risk profile, leveraging global assets for growth and implementing new business models.  All GM’s internal resources and external relations – especially with suppliers – are affected by new operating mindsets including straight-line investment strategies, break-even at economic troughs and a fortress balance sheet. 

Core to the successful corporate transformation is the linkage between purchasing, engineering and GM’s supply base.  This town hall with purchasing and engineering is timely as GM undertakes a series of initiatives including:

• Co-locating and realigning the purchasing and engineering organizations
• Enhancing global capacity management out to 18 to 24 month visibility
• Improving schedule stability
• Revamping purchasing and engineering processe

GM executives will be available during the 60-minute registration and networking session that begins at 1 p.m.  The town hall program, which runs from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., includes approximately 45 minutes for prepared remarks by Socia, Calabrese and Winegarden.   Following the purchasing, vehicle engineering and powertrain engineering updates, the three vice presidents will participate in a 60-minute question and answer session.  Additional GM purchasing and engineering executives will also be available before and after the meeting.

OESA members may register in the events section of http://www.oesa.org.  For registration assistance, contact Felece Hickman at 248.952.6401 ext. 237 or fhickman@oesa.org.  For program information, contact Dave Andrea at 248.952.6401 ext. 228 or dandrea@oesa.org.