Be sure to look at all of  kykorvette’s photos and our other albums. And if you would like to recommend your favorite photo with a GM car or truck in it, put it up on Flickr and tag it with “gmfyi.”

Be sure to look at all of  sjb4photos’ photos and our other albums. And if you would like to recommend your favorite photo with a GM car or truck in it, put it up on Flickr and tag it with “gmfyi.”

Congratulations Team Detroit and thanks to all the teams. It really was a fun couple of days.

Stay tuned here on FastLane next week for some fun wrap-up activities looking back on the trip, as well as some of the activities happening at the SXSW Conference.

As the Chevy SXSW Road Trip Challenge rolls into its final day, Team Detroit continues to dominate the scoring, opening up a nearly two-to-one lead over its nearest rival, Team South Florida.

It’s looking like Team Detroit might be unbeatable as the teams approach their destination, Austin, Texas. But from the start, this competition has been less about winning than about having fun and reaching as many people as possible.

To that end, all of the eight teams are winning. Just ask TV star Alysa Milano, who tweeted the following message in support of Team New York: “Help #NYChaos win the #ChevySXSW and keep NY pride alive: http://is.gd/aesvr (via @ iamkhayyam ).”

If that isn’t a measure of success, we don’t know what is.

Be sure to check out all of the action on Chevy’s SXSW Road Trip Challenge Posterous page, where all the teams are posting pictures and videos and of their adventures along the way to the SXSW Conference.

Be sure to look at all of kykorvette’s photos and our other albums. And if you would like to recommend your favorite photo with a GM car or truck in it, put it up on Flickr and tag it with “gmfyi.”

You don’t read a lot about the tens of billions of dollars of parts and services that GM buys to advance our goal of designing, building and selling the world’s best vehicles. It is important enough that we set aside one day every year to celebrate those suppliers who do the best job of helping us do that.

It is a very select group.  Earlier today, we recognized 76 companies from 16 countries as our 2009 GM Supplier of the Year. To put that in perspective, we work with nearly 20,000 suppliers around the world on a daily basis.

This is the 18th year for the awards and they mark one of the toughest years in GM’s 101-year history. The suppliers who outperformed their objectives in quality, technology, service and price in that environment truly are world class. This group also weathered the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression.

When I talked with them at the Supplier of the Year business meeting, I wanted to do more than just thank them for their efforts and give them a trophy. I explained how we are trying to fix some problems we have had in dealing with our suppliers.  We have not performed well in the past in surveys that rank manufacturer dealings with suppliers. I am committed to improving our standing. To that end, everyone in the Purchasing organization this year has supplier relationships as part of their performance evaluation.

Obviously, the Supplier of the Year group, which was picked by a global team of purchasing, engineering, quality, manufacturing and logistics executives, has figured out how to best do business with GM.

What I want to show – not so much talk about – is that we are listening to what suppliers are telling us and how we can be better business partners.  That starts with transparency. And it is followed by action.

We implemented a revised supplier suggestion program in which we now share savings 50-50 over the life of the part vs. 65-35 for the first year and 100 percent to GM after that.   We’ve also made it easier to quote on new business, and we have a system for paying suppliers that allows checks to arrive weekly – which stabilizes their cash flow and ours.

We’re not done yet. Karl Stracke in Engineering and Dan Hancock in Powertain are now members of our Supplier Council. We are driving the business together. Our Subject Matter Teams are aligned and we are speaking with a single voice to suppliers.

We’ve looked at almost 400 suggestions from suppliers and our own people and have closed more than 90 percent of them – either changing a process or determining a solid reason to leave an area alone.

These kinds of changes take a lot of hard work and cooperation. We’re moving fast, but real change takes hold over time. If we do a good job, maybe others will do the talking in the future.

Be sure to look at all of Steve Brandon’s photos and our other albums. And if you would like to recommend your favorite photo with a GM car or truck in it, put it up on Flickr and tag it with “gmfyi.”

With all eight teams now on the road, the Chevy’s SXSW Road Trip Challenge is now in full swing.

Team San Diego hit the road this morning, meaning that each of the teams is now on the road and on the scoreboard.

Team Detroit continues to hold down a commanding lead, but all the teams are scoring well, completing challenges gaining followers – as well as their followers’ valuable retweets. Even more importantly, the teams are obviously having a great time as they make their way to the SXSW Conference on Austin, Texas.

Here are some highlights from Tuesday’s activities:

• Team Detroit managed to get pictures each time it crossed from one state to another
• Team New York sent one member to the top of a rock-climbing wall
• Team Lansing found the funniest sign of the trip so far
• It took a little convincing, but Team Chicago was able to purchase drive-thru meals for the customers behind them at a McDonalds. Better yet, they got it on video

We’ll be back tomorrow with another update. Meantime, be sure to follow the teams on Twitter and give them your support.

Mark and his team are focused on creating innovative products with exciting design, high quality, and great fuel efficiency. He stands behind GM’s commitment to deliver the world’s best vehicles to our customers. He will answer as many questions as he can and looks forward to receiving your comments.

Seven of the eight teams taking part in the Chevy SXSW Road Trip Challenge are on their way to Austin, Texas, documenting their crazy solutions to the challenges they have to accomplish on their journeys.

Not that they haven’t taken some time to pamper themselves. In fact, pedicures anyone?

Team North Carolina managed to score an interview with CNN Marketing VP Scot Safon and Team Detroit was interviewed via Skype by WXYZ-TV’s Stephen Clark.

Meanwhile Team South Florida found a happy, new Chevy owner to share her thoughts on her brand new Equinox.

The teams are clearly having a blast and we wish we were along for the ride.

Team Detroit is off to an early and commanding lead, although scores are literally changing by the second as the teams tweet their successes and their supporters retweet their accomplishments. And one team – Team San Diego – won’t be leaving until Wednesday, due to the shorter distance it has to the SXSW Conference.

Have fun, teams. And stay safe!