Logistics questions
 

While whiling away the time waiting for my 2015 Coupe to arrive, I began to ponder some of the logistics issues associated with delivery. My understanding is that Bowling Green strives to produce between 160-180 Corvettes per day. I believe manufacturing began on 08/11 and operated at least 10 days (more likely 12-14) before any deliveries began.

That would imply that the current inventory of Corvettes at Bowling Green is probably in the neighborhood of 1600 cars. Assume approximately 15% of them are NCM deliveries and it leaves around 1400 Corvettes to be delivered by truck. Adding to the mix will be the daily output of 160 or so cars that are manufactured each day that the the backlog is being worked down.

A fully loaded transporter can carry 11 cars. This means that it will take approximately 127 fully loaded transporters just to work down the current inventory. It would seem that loading process is pretty tedious. A batch of 11 vehicles going to the same general delivery area must be selected. Locations of these 11 vehicles within the 1400 have to be determined. The vehicles then have to be loaded onto the transporter in the correct order. For the sake of simplicity I will ignore the additional complexities that arise when vehicles are transported by rail.

Anybody have any insight into how how many transporters can be loaded per day? If we had some idea of how the loading process worked we could begin to estimate how long it will take to deliver the currently existing inventory of 2015 Corvettes at Bowling Green.

Well, a lot depends on where the car is going. For most of the country, Corvettes are delivered by rail so the trucks run the Vettes to either Ohio or Michigan and drop them at the rail yard. That's when the logistic nightmare can begin.

Where do you live?

Dave

Imagine how much cheaper the cars would be if they forced us to pick them up at the factory...

I'm glad I'm not in logistics especially for them.

I live in the Houston, TX area ... my understanding is that Corvettes delivered to this area are delivered entirely by truck. However, I wasn't inquiring about delivery time to my particular dealer. I was wondering how long it was going to take Bowling Green to clear the existing inventory off of their manufacturing storage lot.

I know there are differences in delivery time depending on the mode of transportation used, but no matter whether it is entirely by truck or some combination of truck and rail, we still have to consider the initial time required for simply loading the Corvettes at the Bowling Green site onto trucks independent of whether those trucks are going to a railhead or directly to dealer sites. This initial truck loading must be done in all cases except NCM delivery. I was trying to get a handle on just how long the simple act of loading enough transporters to empty the lot was going to take.

Nope, they get put onto a truck to go across the street to the Museum.

Texas does get delivered by truck so that's good. You are back to the problem of having 11 cars going in the same direction. I can't see it taking too long. Most cars usually ship within 10 days of the car clearing quality control. There is a little backlog right now but that will ease up some since either this week or next they were going to build a bunch of Z06 test cars which most won't ship for some time.

Dave

It's not about "clearing the lot" but building loads that go to the same area. Smaller dealers get in the mix too , it's not all about 10 cars to Houston. Simple answer? 2-3 weeks is possible once you are 4b00.

I manage the logistics of shipping 140+ full truck loads of product daily from a single manufacturing facility to 38 distribution centers across the US. The issue of routing the truck in the most efficient manner is usually managed by software and not something done manually. I am not sure how the Bowling Green plant manages deliveries but I am guessing they have some tools to help with the process.

It's actually Jack Cooper Transport, not GM, but yes they do. Once GM releases the car for shipping, it is out of their hands and up to the contracted companies. Jack Cooper delivers to some dealers directly, the NCM and to the rail yards. The rail yards are handled by another company and when the car gets to the final rail yard there is another trucking company (different by region) who takes the car to the dealer.

Dave

Thanks, this has been a very informative post.

My car has been bayed since last Saturday and since its an A8 was probably released from QC on Wednesday. Since I live in Connecticut, guess I am going to Michigan. Well, nothing to do but sit back and wait.

I imagine it would be about $995 cheaper!

David

No, I read you still have to pay the $995

You still have to pay the $995 destination fee if the car is picked up at the museum. The original post I quoted pondered how much we would save if we picked up directly at the plant, which is not an option. The destination fee is $995 to move the vehicle from the plant to as close as the museum and as far away as California.

David

I now realize that it would only be a $995 savings, so this point is kind of moot.