For more than 75 years, Ryder has been in the truck business. It all started in 1933 with a $35, 1931 Model A truck owned by James Ryder in Miami, Florida that was used to haul concrete. When a beverage distributor leased five trucks in 1938, Ryder’s full-service leasing business began. In the 1980s, automotive customers started asking Ryder to provide their transportation management functions; these relationships led to Ryder’s rapid expansion into the logistics and supply chain management business. By 1987, Ryder had designed and implemented North America’s first major just-in-time delivery system. As its reputation for reliable service and high-quality performance has grown, so, too, has its customer base.

According to the Council of Logistics Management, “Logistics management activities typically include inbound and outbound transportation management, fleet management, warehousing, materials handling, order fulfillment, logistics network design, inventory management of third party logistics services providers.”

Similarly, supply chain management “encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers and customers. In essence, supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies.”

According to Lisa Brumfield, corporate communications, “Today, Ryder has grown to one of the world’s largest logistics service providers and boasts more than 400 individual centers in its supply chain services group alone, around 12,000 employees and 1.5 million square feet of warehousing. As the lead logistics provider for more than 30 automotive assembly plants and more than 25 tier-one suppliers around the world, Ryder Supply Chain Solutions plays a role in the production of more than 8 million automobiles a year.”

When car buyers turn the keys in their new automobiles for the first time, they’re probably not thinking about the process that might have begun up to 60 months earlier, on four continents, where as many as 3,000 parts and components had to come together to create just one car. Supply chain and logistics management and organizations like Ryder have enabled carmakers to hold down costs and make the highest levels of technology, convenience and performance available to consumers.

Two years ago, Ryder Systems/Lansing Operations moved into what had been the GM Engine Plant on South Canal and began working with local GM operations and acting as the intermediary between GM and its many suppliers to provide what GM needs to keep its automotive assembly lines functioning efficiently. They are supporting the Lansing Delta Township GM facility as well as the Grand River facility.

According to Tom Davis, director of customer logistics at Ryder’s Lansing Operations facility, “What we do for General Motors allows them to focus on what they do best, design and build cars. The automotive industry is complex and fast-paced. Our just-in-time delivery system gives GM the efficiency and responsiveness it needs to compete in the global marketplace.

He continued, “Over 1,200 trucks a day come in and out of this facility. Right now, we have 150 employees but we’re ready to grow and plan to eventually employ over 700. We’ve been working with Michigan Works!, Lansing Community College, the Manufacturing Council and others; we have found and continue to find excellent employees.”

Davis added, “From day one, I’ve been impressed by the world-class people I work with in this community. Both here at Ryder and at GM, employees function as a team and display a strong work ethic. You couldn’t ask for a better group of people to work with.”

The incredibly complicated job of building cars doesn’t just happen in the assembly plant. It takes a worldwide team to put the car on the road. Ryder is proud of the role it plays in seeing that the American consumer can take to the open road in the best car possible.