GM Drives Down the Information Highway By Kayla Schwartz April 18 th 2005

A little information about GM Largest automaker 338,000 employees in 35 countries Vehicle brands include : Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac, Saturn, Saab and GMC Trucks. Non vehicle ventures in Allison Transmissions.

What went wrong GM’s sales have been declining Competition providing better quality at a lower cost Phasing out the Oldsmobile 5 separate operating divisions Vertical corporation at one time manufacturing 70% its own parts

Old information system 100 mainframes and 34 computer centers but no centralized system to link operations or departments 16 different systems 28 different word processing systems Most systems running on completely incompatible equipment.

A change in the right direction 1980 GM’s management tried to standardize its systems Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Consolidated the computing centers in to 21 Purchased new uniform computers Streamlined the firm’s information architecture

E-GM 1999 GM added a new division Wanted to grow and develop E-business Hoped to reduce the time spent in developing and designing new vehicles Wanted to cut 10% of the cost of making a vehicle by eliminating supply chain inefficiencies.

GM on-line Wanted to become more customer orientated Selling vehicles on-line GMBuyPower.com an informational website for GM car shoppers Building Vehicles to order would reduce inventory costs and potentially save GM 20 Billion Dollars a year

OnStar GM’s wholly owned subsidiary Vehicle-based cellular communications system GM expects OnStar to stay a significant source of revenue Has licensed OnStar to Honda and Toyota

Ways GM is driving in the right direction Linking divisions and uniting the different areas of the corporation Using compatible computer systems Building a stronger image online and making the website informative to car buyers Online car buying and OnStar

Thank you Any Questions?