General Motors CEO Dan Akerson is gearing up for some big changes and going global is the top priority. This global leadership initiative will focus on areas such as purchasing and product development, as marketing and design have all ready take that leap ahead. The reason behind this overhaul is to put the focus on getting high quality products out to the worldwide General Motor’s drivers, and not just sit around having meetings about, waiting for approvals and planning on making plans, which seems to make a lot of sense. His specific comments about this were, “We’ve got to get this company and its culture into the 21st century,” and “We need to take the bureaucracy out of the business.”
Dan Akerson took over as CEO two years ago and one thing he is not known for is sitting back and relaxing as a figure head. He rolls up his sleeves and gets things done and while some of his moves have been controversial, General Motors is making a profit and moving further away from the bankruptcy issue and no one can complain about that. Akerson’s intent has been to completely change the culture and create a more streamlined company that can actually keep track of everything from the top down, including a new technology system, where in the past, 200,000 were pretty much just “lost”.
Some of the changes will be in order to catch up to some of the automakers. He makes it a point about how General Motors has 30 different door latches for its vehicle lineup, while Toyota only has five. Also, General Motors has 23 data centers, where most of the other automakers only have two to four. His comment about this was, “We can’t just rely on vice presidents and executive directors. We need people on the assembly line. … We need everybody pulling in the same direction.”
“We’re going to have to change. Nothing stays static. The good old days are gone,” he said. “This company is being built to survive for the next 50 years, the next 100 years.”
Source The Detroit News