Marcio Lucon brings cross-functional view to GM’s global logistics; Renee Wawrzynski retires with legacy of partnerships

There are changes at the top of General Motors’ logistics organisation, as Marcio Lucon will become executive director of global logistics and containerisation effective September 1^st, replacing Renee Wawrzynski, who is retiring after 41 years with the carmaker and nearly two years in the leading logistics role.

Lucon, who is currently executive director for Global Purchasing and Supply Chain (GPSC) for GM South America, based in Brazil, will assume responsibility across global inbound, finished vehicle and service parts logistics, global logistics purchasing as well as packaging and returnable containers. He will relocate to Michigan and continue to report to Jeff Morrison, vice-president of Global Purchasing and Supply Chain.

GM has yet to announce a replacement for Lucon to lead purchasing in South America.

General Motors has also confirmed a new director of finished vehicle logistics in Amy Paulsen, who will report to Lucon, and form part of his senior leadership team.

A legacy of improved results, teams and collaboration in the supply chain

Renee Wawrzynski took over global logistics at the end of 2022, topping off a career spanning major supply chain, logistics, manufacturing and purchasing roles. She started at GM in 1983 as a co-op student (working and studying simultaneously) whilst at General Motors Institute – Engineering and Management Institute (now known as Kettering University). She went on to leading positions across GPSC as well as at eight different GM plants in North America. She would later hold director roles in containerisation, logistics, purchasing and supply chain, including as director of demand and supply planning immediately prior to becoming executive director of logistics.

During her tenure in global logistics, Wawrzynski helped to further grow and refresh the organisation, including appointing new global directors across inbound, vehicle logistics and purchasing, as well as important positions across key regions for the carmaker, including Mexico.

Wawrzynski has led logistics during a turbulent time for the sector. As she entered the role, the inbound supply chain was still feeling the effects of Covid-related disruptions and the semiconductor shortage – a crisis that Wawrzynski helped to mitigate during her previous role in supply and demand planning ­­– with production schedules uncertain and impacting supplier deliveries.

As production and sales volumes began to recover, however, GM and other OEMs faced significant capacity shortages and misalignment especially in vehicle logistics, for example in global ro-ro shipping, ports, truck drivers and rail services across North America. At the peak of the vehicle logistics crisis, in summer 2023, Jeff Morrison told Automotive Logistics that North American vehicle logistics had become a “top five global issue” for both him and CEO Mary Barra.

“Particularly on the FVL side, visibility, capacity planning and making sure the investment is there is so important… We can work better together with the providers to share data back and forth, and there is opportunity for new technology and more sharing on both sides.”
-Renee Wawrzynski, GM

Addressing these issues becoming a major focus point for the global logistics team. Speaking at the Automotive Logistics & Supply Chain Global conference in September 2023, Wawrzynski pointed out how GM had significantly improved supplier visibility after the pandemic and chip crises exposed gaps. The carmaker’s supply chain and logistics teams were now updating and sharing production schedules and forecasts more frequently with suppliers. However, she noted that not all vehicle logistics providers were accessing the data, leading to misalignments in the network in available logistics capacity and fleet investments among providers.

“Particularly on the FVL side, visibility, capacity planning and making sure the investment is there is so important, and we have to do a better job on providing that future outlook and what the volumes and flows are expected to be,” she said. “We can work better together with the providers to share data back and forth, and there is opportunity for new technology and more sharing on both sides.”

Today, whilst still facing challenges in parts of the network, GM’s overall logistics are considerably more stable, including improvements in information exchange and capacity planning. Wawrzynski and her team have made significant strides across both material and vehicle logistics, including more long-term agreements with logistics providers, notably for finished vehicle rail, according to Morrison.

“I met Renee in 2013, when we both worked together in global logistics. She’s someone who thinks strategically, drives for results and builds highly effective teams,” said Morrison. “One of her many legacies will be how she’s transformed our railroad agreements into long-term, strategic partnerships.

“She has made a positive impact in the careers of so many in her time with GM and will be greatly missed.”

Marcio Lucon will bring an enterprise focus and love of innovation to logistics

Marcio Lucon has been with General Motors for 25 years, holding positions across multiple departments and cross-functional roles including sales, product and portfolio planning, as well as purchasing and logistics. He has developed a reputation as a leader able to adapt across different departments and stakeholders, and a passion for implementing change. In the supply chain, including in Asia and South America, he has helped to usher in important changes with significant benefits across the enterprise.

“I most enjoy going to a business to try to bring real change. I like innovations, I like to create things and to bring real value to the business,” he tells Automotive Logistics. “And this is what I’m looking forward to doing in GM’s global logistics.”

After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering in São Paulo, in his native Brazil, and working at trainee programmes for Ford and Mercedes-Benz, Lucon began his career in the automotive industry in sales at GM. After five years he left the carmaker to pursue an MBA at Michigan State University, relocating for the first time to the US. When he returned to Brazil, GM rehired him, and the next phase of his career would see him work across a wide range of positions both in Brazil and globally that would see him interface with stakeholders in virtually every department across the carmaker. That included production scheduling, outbound logistics and master scheduling across the Mercosur region.

Lucon developed a reputation for moving across widely different functions and teams. For example, he was responsible for more than 2,000 employees in plant material handling across Brazil; in his next role, he led a small team responsible for product portfolio strategy and long-term forecasting.

Over the past decade, Marcio Lucon has held significant supply chain and logistics roles. In 2014, he moved to Singapore to lead logistics and purchasing programme management across key Asian markets. In 2016 he relocated to South Korea to lead purchasing across the country and later also supply chain and logistics operations across GM’s significant production, supplier and export operations in the country.

Since 2020, Lucon has led the purchasing organisation in South America, responsible for all procurement, supply chain operations and logistics. South America is an important region and complex supply chain for GM, with vehicle plants in Gravataí, in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and Alvear, near Rosario, Argentina and further engine, component and stamping plants in Brazil. Lucon will not be the first recent leader from Brazil and the wider region to take the top global logistics role at GM. Edgard Pezzo, who led global logistics from 2014 before retiring at the end of 2022, was also Brazilian and had previously responsible for purchasing and supply chain in South America before leading global logistics.

“It is important that logistics is part of the decision-making process from day zero of a project, whether in sales strategy or manufacturing, as that helps us to create solutions that are more balanced to total enterprise needs.”
-Marcio Lucon, GM

Lucon has worked with teams in the region to realise important efficiencies across operations, including in supply chain design and inventory reduction. According to Jeff Morrison, Lucon has played an instrumental role in advancing the carmaker’s supply chain in the region during a challenging time. “Marcio has been instrumental in building strategic partnerships both within GM and with our suppliers, building winning teams and working with different challenges and cultures,” he said.

Other strategic achievements included the implementation last year of special electric and gas-powered trucks in São Paulo state moving engines, transmissions and bumpers between factories, as well as accessories and spare parts between distribution centres and dealerships. The fleet, which is expected to save 35 tonnes of CO2 per year, is a first step in a wider sustainable logistics and supply chain initiative in the region.

Lucon is clear that logistics and supply chain should play a key part in enterprise-level decisions, and not only act as a service provider to other functions. “It is important that logistics is part of the decision-making process from day zero of a project, whether in sales strategy or manufacturing, as that helps us to create solutions that are more balanced to total enterprise needs,” he says. “I’m really looking forward to working with our teams and our partners in logistics is to achieve that across our global logistics operations.”