# 1970s GENERAL MOTORS RAIL SHIPMENT OF NEW AUTOMOBILES LOGISTICS / SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 74672

Made in the 1970s, this General Motors corporate film explains some of the supply chain management challenges faced by the company, and the work undertaken to make the delivery of automobiles more efficient and damage-free. The film was made in the wake of a series of complaints by dealers and customers about damage in transit -- either by bad handling on railroads or trucking. GM's new "Logistics Operations" division was tasked with delivering cars as quickly as possible to dealers with a minimum of damage. In March 1970 GM sent a "unit train" from Chicago cross-country, in an experiment designed to see if a non-stop transcontinental delivery would be successful. The result was very positive and led to GM implementing a host of new policies related to non-stop rail delivery of automobiles. The film features images of the Vega starting at 5:00 minutes, with images of the automobiles delivered in a vertical position or "Vert-A-Pac", and computerized rail car tracing (seen at 7:30 minutes) designed to track automobiles in shipment via Teledyne computers and IBM punch card computers. The first production Vert-A-Pacs entered service in April, 1970, the last ones in January, 1973. All were withdrawn from service at the end of the 1977 Vega model year and were reracked with conventional tri-level racks. General Motors (GM) has continuously improved its production and delivery processes to ensure vehicles reach customers in top condition. Despite quality control efforts,…

- Kind: Film
- Genres: Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/74672GMLogistics)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/74672GMLogistics?play=1)