General Motors’ former Executive Director of Global Supply Chain Operations Bill Hurles is back to share more insight on the current dynamic supply chain landscape. 

In a wide-ranging discussion, Bill (who spent almost four decades in the automotive industry before he retired) reflects on his time working with GM's former head of purchasing Ignacio Lopez. He also talks about the qualities he'd seek if he were hiring a Tier 1 supply chain leader today — and the strengths of younger generations in the workplace.

Themes discussed in this episode: 

• The most important qualities a Tier 1 supply chain leader must have 
• How simple changes in the supply chain can save automakers thousands or even millions per month
• Why there’s more to supply chain than improving labor efficiency
• The resiliency and promise of younger supply chain workers
• What it was really like to work under Lopez, GM’s former head of purchasing
• The power of enthusiasm in supply chain leadership

Featured Guest: 

Name: Bill Hurles

Title: Executive Director, Supply Chain at General Motors (Retired)

What he does: Over the course of a long and prolific career at GM, Bill worked in engineering and lean manufacturing before pivoting to supply chain management. By the time he retired after 38 years with the company, Bill led its entire global supply chain. 

Connect: LinkedIn 

At the heart of The Prophets’ vision are “The 24 Essential Supply Chain Processes.” What are they? Find out, and see the future yourself. Click here

Episode Highlights

Timestamped inflection points from the show

[1:14] Core competencies: A Tier 1 supply chain leader needs to have a broad understanding of the entire supply chain and the technology used to manage it. Bill also says it's crucial to be aware of the best procurement processes and have the ability to cultivate good relationships with suppliers.

[3:25] Real talk: An ecosystem model of the supply chain demands transparency and open communication between an OEM and its suppliers. 

[4:26] One hand washes the other: If Bill were to advise Tier 1 CEOs today, he would underscore the direct relationship between supply chain and profitability.

[5:54] Raising awareness: Quality organizations and the engineering community are the two most important partners supply chain leaders have in helping CEOs and C-suite executives realize that supply chain is a profit center, Bill says.

[7:45] Millennials to Gen Z and beyond: Younger people entering the industry are showing themselves to be motivated and resilient, with a broad awareness of the latest technologies. 

[9:38] Constant connection, rapid progression: The industry’s newest generations of workers are much more connected to their peers than their predecessors were when they started their careers. Not only are they knowledgeable about technology, but they share information with each other on a daily basis. Bill is excited about this because it can give companies a much clearer view of how to drive improvement.

[11:59] The Lopez era: Recalling his time at GM working under former purchasing head Ignacio Lopez., Bill says Lopez’s dictatorial, confrontational leadership style cost GM the trust of many of its suppliers, “which inhibited the growth of the organization.”

[12:28] The one thing: To build trust and connection with employees, a supply chain leader has to be a great communicator — and an "all in," enthusiastic, excited, open-minded, humble member of the team.

Top quotes

[2:36] “The most important tool in 'de-risking,' or increasing resiliency, is great supplier relations.”

[2:52] “You can't control when an earthquake is going to happen. You can’t control when a pandemic is going to happen. But you can build a foundation that allows you to react effectively and not be in total firefighting mode.” 

[4:30] “Supply chain helps you make money. In reality, it's where money can be made and is made.” 

[7:38] “Especially after recovering from bankruptcy, I think there was a hesitancy to broaden [GM's employees') responsibilities. But as younger people come into the workforce, they're extremely resilient. They want to contribute. Their desires are so strong. And at the same time, they value partnerships and value working in a team. They're extremely active in their communication.”

[8:33] “Understanding the entire system is so important. Gen Zs and [other] young people are getting a much better understanding of [supply chain] capabilities … They have a much broader and greater understanding of the technology of the future.”

[13:08] “Being someone enthusiastic and really excited about where you're taking your organization can motivate your employees [and] also your colleagues. With that, they know you're with them  that you're 'all in.' You need to be all in as a leader, and you need to do that with an open mind, great communication, and humility.” 

We really can't predict the future because nobody can. What we can do though, is help auto manufacturers recognize, prepare for in profit from whatever comes next. auto supply chain prophets gives you timely and relevant insights and best practices from industry leaders. It's all about what's happening now in the automotive supply chain and how to prepare your organization for the future. Because the auto supply chain is where the money is.

Welcome to another episode of auto supply chain profits. And joining us again, today is the one and only, Bill Hurles, Former Executive Director of Supply Chain for General Motors. Bill, welcome to the show.

Welcome.

Bill, I want to talk to you about leadership. How do you see supply chain leadership changing in the future? Let me be a little bit more specific. If you were the CEO of a tier one company, what would you be looking for in your supply chain leader?

I think the the first thing I wouldn't be looking for is a broad understanding of supply chain. And I'd be looking for an individual that understands the different elements of supply chain and supply chain has different definitions in different companies. But often, it's includes procurement includes your supply chain operation, includes your logistics, it includes your containerization, and those all tie together to be able to schedule and manage the material flow of your product and both in and out. So, I'd be looking for an individual that has those skill sets, I would be looking for someone that has vision that has a deeper understanding of where and what are the capabilities of the future. In previous discussions, we've talked about AI, we've talked about different MRP systems, I'd be looking for someone that has understanding of the technology that choose to manage supply chain understanding of good procurement processes, how you procure and your relationship with your suppliers is so critically important for an OEM to a tier one tier one to tier two. But looking for someone that really understands and supports, building that relationship is, you know, Jan, I'm involved a lot and trying to help support risk and resiliency learnings. The most important tool and derisking or increasing resiliency is great supplier relations, I would be looking for an individual that really appreciates and understands why that's so important. Because there's a lot of things in your supply chain that are uncontrollable, you can't control when an earthquake is going to happen. You can't control when a pandemic is gonna happen. But you can have built a foundation allows you to react effectively, and not being a total firefighting mode.

Yeah, it's interesting, those relationships are changing drastically, especially as we move towards electrification. One of the things that Terry and I have recognized is rather than the linear supply chain relationship, we're actually recognizing more of an ecosystem. So how would the supply chain leader optimally manage that ecosystem?

I think it starts with communication. And I think it's extremely important. We be open and honest and fair. As we deal with each other. There's a dependency of both ends. And that's built on trust, being opened minded with your communication, putting yourself in the other organizations shoes at times, and as what do they need to know and asking that question? How can we better enable your performance which then enables our performance? I think those would be a couple of key things that I would focus on.

Bill, if you were able to have a roundtable today with CEOs of tier one automotives and even tier twos and down the supply chain? How would you mentor them or advise them to escalate the importance of supply chain because you know, in the past is all been about firefighting, premium freight, parts follow up people. If you had that opportunity to sit down with them and say, This is why supply chain is important and why, you know, I think we need to look at supply chains differently. What advice would you give them?

I would be very upfront about supply chain helps you make money. In reality, it's where money it can be made and is made. We often think in from a manufacturing standpoint, that we've just it just improve labor efficiency, and that'll improve profitability. In reality, that's an element. In some cases, it's a small element, some cases large elements. But if you think about your supply chain, if you think about the amount of value that is flowing through that supply chain. If you think about all the different elements that lead to cost, it starts with containerization. It starts with how you move the material. It starts with how you store and move the material. And within the supply chain. I've seen examples where just simple changes in containerization that allow you to queue your trailers, or your trains or whatever way your conveyance system is, saving 1000s and millions of dollars per month. I would get their attention because money speaks, especially as is sitting in with your your CEOs and C suite individuals, you need to get their attention. And I think when you start pointing out to them, and they understand that, what I think they often lack us, how do we get there, and I think that's the area of the supply chain leader really needs to help lead and, and do that cross functionally, you can't do it alone, you need to do it with your fellow leaders and key enablers become your engineering community and your quality organizations to really move on because you don't want to make changes that have any impact or negative impact on the quality of your product incoming and outgoing.

We love that you have to break down these silos. There's so many silos and I you bring up such an excellent point about really getting everybody on the same page and working together.

Hey, Bill, when you bring young people into the organization, there was a tradition in the past, we always gave him the fastener deck, right? Because it was always, hey, how much damage? Can you do it via nuts and bolts and screws, right? And that was the thinking, right? Well, how they can't do that much damage. So we'll let them learn the process, learn how to be in purchasing a supply chain on that deck? Well, Gen Z, coming into the workforce right now, they're not going to play that game. You better not be given them the most boring deck. Sorry, to all the fastener people out there. But the you know, they want more than that. And they want to be valued for their creativity, for their innovation for what they can bring to the table, we're going to have to change that way of thinking, we're going to have to give them a lot of responsibility. And to use a word that you used earlier, we're going to have to trust them. Nurture them build an environment where they can make a mistake, not have their head chopped off and succeed. Do you see that as a challenge for supply chain leaders today to change the way they think about how they bring people into the organization?

Yes, I think it's a challenge. But I do think and I just reflect on my own experience, because we started doing a lot of hiring in the mid 2010 to 15, especially after recovering from bankruptcy where we collaborate. I think there was a hesitancy to broaden their responsibilities. But as the younger people have come into the workforce, they're extremely resilient. They want to contribute, their desires are so strong. And at the same time, the value partnerships that add value working in a team, they're extremely active in their communication. It's a challenge. But I do think effective leaders are up to that challenge. And they're accepting that capability. In our organization, we had a, what we call kind of our crisis room or crisis, current material availability group that really focused on the most critical items. In the beginning, we would only bring one or two of the younger people, we felt their skill set wouldn't enable them. As they started engaging, we realize the strength of their knowledge. And as we've talked in the past, the understanding the entire system is so important, and Gen Z's and the young people are getting a much better understanding of the capabilities. I think the other opportunity they bring to us is they have a much broader and greater understanding of the technology of the future. We've talked about AI I think one of the inhibitors for from a leadership standpoint is many of us are not skilled or really have as broad of an understanding. So the strength is going to come from your younger generation that can help advise and it's going to be extremely important to listen, and is support and adopt as appropriate.

And I agree to, with you Bill, especially in the area of IT. A lot of organizations are on very old ERP systems, and getting them updated and upgraded. Because this young generation, I know when I teach classes, they don't want to look at these green screens, black screens, whatever you might want to have a look at. It's just not going to sustain what do you think about that too?

I agree 100% If they find the technology really lagging behind and let's face it, they are connected with their peers at a much stronger level than we were. You think about it in my generation, we graduated from college, your peers, you may or may communicate and frequently. Now they're instant messaging and communicating on a on a daily basis. And they're talking about what are we doing what's different in many of these colleagues are going to be working in similar responsibilities and other companies. They're going to have a good grasp at what's going on. Now the good news is that also means they're going to be learning from each other, which can bring applications into your organizations. And I think it's exciting because I think many people are working the tiered supply base, some are going to work with OEMs, there's going to be a much stronger networking, which is also going to point out things that work and things that don't work, which hopefully will then give greater visibility of how we drive improvement.

That's great. I love that. Hey, Bill, I got a question for you. This is one of those questions that you didn't know was coming. Are you ready?

I'm ready.

All right. You know, we've seen different leadership models throughout the years and certainly, throughout your career, give us a low pet story. What was it like? What was it like working under the Lopez regime? Come on, spill the tea.

You know, I think when Ignacio Lopez took over SVP of purchasing, team was definitely a change agents. You have first the shock factor of a leader who brings an entirely different view of how to manage that function. In this case, it's purchasing and under the umbrella of purchasing, you've got supply chain, you've got procurement, you've got logistics, very, very much a leadership style that I've considered dictatorial, demanding, literally, fierce loyalty. And not only in what you did what you said, how you operate the business, but even symbolically, as many of you have heard as a warrior, and part of his team, you are expected to wear your watch on your left hand symbolizes that you were a warrior within his team. Being in the team, it was a real challenge in the whole procurement process. And many of the things that he brought to the table had a positive impact and competitive bidding within the process and things was very good. It was very different, cause a lot of anxiety within the supply base. But I think it was, you know, it was not positive. I really believe in as we've talked in the past, it's important to have trust. And I think in the end, under his leadership, we lost the trust of many of our suppliers which inhibited the growth of the organization, it makes you realize that damage goes on for a long, long time, long after he was gone, we were still carrying some of the wounds that were for during his tenure.

As you know, we close every episode with one actionable piece of advice that you can give to our audience, in terms of leadership in supply chain, what's the one thing that leaders can do right now to build that trust. There's definitely a theme of trust that has come out during this episode. What's one thing that Supply Chain Leaders can do to build trust, either with their people or with their supply chain or both? Take it whatever way you'd like.

I'm gonna say two things. I know you've just asked for one.

We'll take two. We over deliver. It's okay.

One is, I think you need to be enthusiastic as a leader. I think enthusiasm enables and invites participation. And it builds trust, showing and being someone that's enthusiastic and really excited about where you're taking your organization can motivate both your employees, but also your colleagues. And with that, they know you're with them that you're all in and you need to be all in as a leader and you need to do that with an open mind, great communication and humility.

That is just perfect. And there you have it. Be all in as a supply chain leader build that trust with your team, your business, your colleagues and your supply chain. Bill Hurles, Thank you very much for joining us today.

My pleasure.

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