FVL North America 2024 Day 1 wrap-up

Christopher Ludwig, chief content officer, Automotive Logistics  brings you the highlights of day one of the Finished Vehicle Logistics North America 2024 conference from the Gala Dinner in California.

The day began with Ford’s Paul Roosen and Subaru of America’s Lisa Kline on stage talking about how they’ve been disrupting the status quo over the last year following changes across the North American FVL sector. On the main stage, they spoke about organisational changes needed to prepare for EVs, and emphasised the importance of partnerships with providers to build a steady flow across networks, as well as how the OEMs are addressing ongoing challenges in Mexico and the Pacific Northwest. 

Anu Goel from VW Group of America spoke about taking a North American region approach for VW Group by integrating Mexico, Canada and US in a control tower view, something the carmaker hasn’t done before, to improve visibility across the networks, while Steve Jernigan, Nissan North America and Raúl Gamboa, from BMW Group’s Plant San Luis Potosí, addressed capacity issues in Mexico and the challenges in ports and rail.

Day one of the conference finished with GM’s Prashant Swadia to talk about how to build win-win long-term partnerships while keeping flexibility and building trust and transparency.

Stay tuned for more exclusive coverage of the main stage, insightful interviews, and the hot topics coming out of the conference on our live blog