The problem is we can't afford to take 11 to 12 days to get a car to a customer.

It all ties into the transformation of General Motors from a brick-and-mortar company to a brick-and-click. OTD [order-to-delivery] will transform our company.

There are thousands of vehicles around the world in transit going to dealers for inventory. If we get a specific configuration request from a customer and can match that to a car en route to a dealer, we can relocate that vehicle from the point it is going to, to where the customer is. That would be a major part of the process of a build-to-order environment.

Having suppliers involved as partners earlier in the engineering process helps reduce lead time and improves quality for our customers. GM also will be able to design more cost-effective vehicles for customers that will provide additional environmental benefits and better fuel economy.

Our logistics organization will become smaller but significantly more strategic, with time spent on visioning other type of strategic technology needs as we develop more customer-centered build-to-order systems.

Everything from airplanes to kitchen blenders and even chopsticks comes with an instruction manual. Children, despite all their complexity, do not.