Marcio Lucon brings cross-functional view to GM’s global logistics; Renee

Wawrzynski retires with legacy of partnerships

Lucon will take over as the new head of logistics and containersation after driving enterprise

change in South America. Wawrzynski retires after helping restore logistics stability, and signing

long-term agreements with LSPs, especially North American rail providers.

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.

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

Renee Wawrzynski retires from top logistics job after 41 years at GM

After a career spanning plants, containerisation, purchasing and logistics, Renee Wawrzynski will

retire effective September 1, 2024

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.

Getting rail back on track

Among her key achievements, Renee Wawrzynski and her team worked closely with railways in

North America to stabilise supply and agree long-term contracts

“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 is now executive director of global logistics at GM

In a career across multiple functions, he has seen considerably success in driving enterprise change,

including in purchasing and supply chain across Asia and South America

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.”