Shanghai GM exec to be GM new global supply chief

General Motors Corp., rushing to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of August, appointed an executive from the Shanghai General Motors unit as its new global supply chief.

Bob Socia, 55, succeeds Bo Andersson as vice president for global purchasing and supply chain effective July 1, the Detroit-based automaker said today in a statement. He joined GM in 1975 and is executive vice president at the China division.

Socia’s “diverse experience leading operations in Europe, South Africa and China” prepares him to step into his new role, Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson said in the statement.

GM works with about 1,500 auto-parts makers in North America and spent about $30 billion in the U.S. on direct purchases in 2008. It ranked worst among six automakers in an annual survey of supplier relationships from 2002 to 2006 and was second to last in results released May 25, according to Planning Perspectives Inc. of Birmingham, Michigan.

Andersson, 53, left GM on June 12, becoming the first senior executive to exit after the biggest U.S. automaker’s June 1 Chapter 11 filing. He is serving as an adviser to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s OAO GAZ automaker and may become chairman, GAZ said in a statement.