OK, we've had a lot about cars, some of it valid and at least is
absolute nonsense, but what about the electronics industry? Is it any
better? No, it isn't! Just think from where you are buying your PCBs?
China? India? Malaysia? Why? Because we priced ourselves out of the
market with top-heavy administration and rigid adhesion to useless
over-specifications. You can buy some prototype home-produced circuit
boards for $30 or $50, which is far less than it would cost a large
fabricator just to set up his silk-screen machine to apply the legend,
because the guy who does it has a 4- or 5-deep hierarchical chain above
him with bloated salaries and bonuses. Because this hierarchy, with a
CEO, CFO, COO, CSO and every other letter between the C and the O,
doesn't have a clue what a PCB is about, they are easily hoodwinked by
their equally ignorant subordinates. This includes said subordinates
covering their asses with rampant over-specification of everything,
always pushing costs ever-higher. Is it any wonder that the western PCB
industry became less competitive?
Then there is too much departmentalisation. This means that the
co-ordination between departments is at least two hierarchical steps
above those for whom it matters: too many chiefs, not enough Indians.
I have visited plants in various Far Eastern countries. With the
exception of Japan and some State-owned plants, the organisation, even
in large companies, is much more open and the shop floor worker has just
one person between him and the technical director, in many cases. What
is more, he understands what he is doing and the repercussions that his
work can have along the line. Above all, he is encouraged to use
commonsense and initiative, something often quashed in the west.
One company I visited, for example, in Shanghai, was a 5-storey building
of about 1200 mē/floor. We were taken up, in a lift to the office floor
and were shown into a conference/board room, seating about 16 persons.
Only 2 persons came into to welcome us, the CEO and the technical
director. Their offices were modest and adjoining. About one-third of
the rest of the top floor housed all the office staff and the rest was
manufacturing. All the other floors were manufacturing. The two
directors showed us round the whole factory and were conversant with
every step of production AND with the personnel. Yes, they worked 10
h/day in two shifts for 40-100 yuan, but my impression was that this
factory was a well-oiled machine - and they had almost zero defects.
OK, I admit that my first paragraphs are perhaps slightly overstated but
not by much.
I have visited car makers in Japan, France, Germany but not in the US.
Again, I was most impressed by Toyota and even more so by Nissan's
showpiece fully automated assembly line, with working personnel just
counting 19 to do the jobs unable to be automated (plus a few engineers
floating around to tweak the robots!). I have run many Japanese cars for
over 40 years. They just keep on going, on and on and on. Repairs are
minimal. Running costs are minimal. I have never run the same car for
more than 9 years in that time, but my daughter just traded in a 16
year-old Corolla with over 200,000 km on the clock and it was still
running perfectly and looked good - and that was in Switzerland with
heavily salted roads in winter. My last car was a Honda CR-V and was the
one that I had for almost 9 years. It was in perfect state and I got
back 40% of what I paid for it (OK, low mileage of about 8000 km/year, I
think 73,000, so it was at peak performance). Other than tyres and one
battery, the only replacement part was a lambda gizmo in all that time.
AFAIK, there is no European car maker that can come up to these
expectations.
Brian
Ken Bloomquist wrote:
> It's Friday so it's time to stir the pot!
>
> A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford Motors) decided
> to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and
> hard to reach their peak performance before the race.
>
> On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.
>
> The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the
> reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior
> management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.
>
> Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering,
> while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people rowing.
>
> Feeling a deeper study was in order; American management hired a consulting
> company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.
>
> They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while
> not enough people were rowing.
>
> Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another
> loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally
> reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1
> assistant superintendent steering manager.
>
> They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people
> rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing
> Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the
> rowers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other
> equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The pension
> program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant
> savings were channeled into morale-boosting programs and teamwork posters.
>
> The next year the Japanese won by two miles.
>
> Humiliated, the American management laid off one rower, halted development
> of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled all capital investments
> for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives
> as bonuses.
>
> The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was unable to even
> finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for unacceptable
> performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year's racing team
> was out-sourced to India.
>
> Sadly, the End.
>
> Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years
> moving all its factories out of the US, claiming they can't make money
> paying American wages.
>
> TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants
> inside the US. The last quarter's results:
>
> TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.
>
> Ford folks are still scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses...
>
> IF THIS WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY
>
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