GM, DHL Use a Chinese Plant to Lead Manufacturing Change
The DHL employees work side-by-side with GM workers handling the flow of parts within the plant, which builds about 400,000 Baojun brand vehicles a year and is owned jointly by GM, Chinese partner SAIC Motor Corp and Guangxi Automobile Group.
DHL assembles thousands of kits of parts daily in a strategy to avoid assembly errors, and reduce costs. At some GM-run final assembly plants in China, seats are unloaded from delivery trucks, put on a conveyor system that runs underneath an assembly line, and are delivered to the assembly line operator untouched by human hands.
Some parts are delivered by small self-guided robots that would be at home on the set of a “Star Wars” movie.
GM is now deploying third-party logistics contractors inside all 17 of its joint-venture general assembly plants in China to transport materials, and manage parts warehousing outside the plant and delivery to the plant, a senior GM executive told Reuters.