GM starts work on $65 million parts distribution operation

BURTON, Mich. -- General Motors, with an eye toward a more fuel efficient, autonomous future, is expanding its ACDelco and Genuine GM Parts operations with a $65 million processing center. The project represents GM's largest outlay for a U.S. warehousing and logistics operation in nearly 40 years.Groundbreaking for the 1.1 million-square-foot center took place Wednesday in Burton, about 55 miles north of Detroit."This now gives us the flexibility because this was a bottleneck on our operation," Tim Turvey, GM global vice president of customer care and aftersales, told Automotive News, "and with the expansion and the proper layout of this facility it allows us to have a much smoother operation and also room to grow our parts operation here in the U.S., as well as globally."About 720 employees, 666 hourly and 54 salaried, will move to the new center in 2019 after its completion.Turvey declined to give details on hiring plans or the scope of operations."The facility is going to be up in 10 months. We're going to transfer the existing operation ... to this new facility and we'll continue to evaluate how we expand the operation at that point," Turvey told Automotive News.The developer, NorthPoint Development, of suburban Kansas City, Mo., is building the center and will lease it to GM for an initial term of 12.5 years, Automotive News reported last month. Turvey said he sees no reason why GM would not renew the lease after the initial term."The building will more than double our current facility and give us room for growth," Turvey told the crowd at the groundbreaking, "because we do plan to have our business grow and Burton will be a part of that growth."The center will have six ramp doors and 84 shipping and receiving docks, up from 35 currently, Lisa Veneziano, GM's executive director of global aftersales supply chain warehousing and logistics, said at the event."It is our main induction point into the U.S. for service parts that need to be unitized and packaged for sale," Veneziano said.The customer care and aftersales division's distribution network includes 95 parts distribution warehouses in 21 countries, with 23 warehouses in the U.S., and 35 million square feet of warehouse space."We source and manage over 1 million unique part numbers from ACDelco brake pads to Genuine GM collision parts, the Chevrolet crate engines that can transform a normal family vehicle into a race car, and everything in between," Turvey said.Veneziano said the building's layout will give GM "tremendous opportunity for operating flexibility," along with more efficient workspaces and reduced congestion throughout the warehouse.The new center will also have LED lighting and an energy management system, in line with GM's goal of reducing energy intensity across its operations by 20 percent within five years ending in 2020.In addition, the new warehouse will be landfill free, in accordance with the company's long-term goal of being a zero waste company. GM has more than 140 facilities that send no waste to landfills after recycling or reusing.

GM starts work on $65 million parts distribution operation

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