General Motors South Africa has created a new role of vice president of operations to spearhead an export drive into sub-Saharan Africa.
Ian Nicholls, 51, takes up the post immediately, moving from vice president of planning for GM South Africa, a position he has held since January 2010.
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Based in Port Elizabeth, he will assume responsibility for the company’s manufacturing, purchasing, quality, planning and vehicle sales, service and marketing operations in South Africa. In his new role he reports directly to Mario Spangenberg, president of GM’s Africa operations.
“The company is now well positioned to enter the next phase of its growth plans with its three new vehicle assembly programmes having recently come on stream,” said Spangenberg. “The appointment of Nicholls into this new role enables us to further streamline our operations from a product, distribution and customer support perspective.”
Nichols’ previous assigments included stints at Warren, Michigan and in Germany where he helped integrate the South African purchasing operation into GM’s worldwide purchasing process; he also helped investigate opportunities to improve the material flow, flexibility and lead time between Europe and South Africa.
