That is a sobering story but the roots of the problem seem to go back many
years.
I worked on an American automobile assembly line the summer after high
school in the 60s. Breaks were mandatory and boring for me. The first (and last)
time I tried to go back to work early from a break I was threatened by others
on my line. The wages were excellent and I needed the job so I did not buck
the system but it still felt somehow wrong.
It is dissapointing that the American (aka Protestant) work ethic can be and
has been undermined in some unions. That said, unions played an important
role at one time in the US and elsewhere and they still have importance in some
regions to prevent abuse of the workers but they are now two edged swords
that can cut both ways and sometimes (too often?) are blinded to enlightened
self interest with the results as is now coming into evidence.
And so it goes...
Joe
In a message dated 11/22/2008 1:25:07 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
A number of years ago, I visited the GM assembly plant in Janesville, WI. I
work for a small OEM and my job that day was to upgrade about 35 broadband
devices scattered about the factory and assembly line. I was working with an
on-site contractor (non-union) who had worked at this plant for 5 years. The
job entailed driving in a golf cart to each device, shutting it down, opening
it up, replacing a plug-in PA, closing the unit and powering it up again. It
might have taken maybe 2 1/2 hours to do the whole job, but because of three
letters (UAW) it took more than 9 hours.
The rules said that we needed to have a union "electrician" with us at all
times- for the sole purpose of removing /attaching the screw-on 'F' broadband
connector on the modem. During those 9 hours, I saw our assigned
'electrician' twice- each time for a few minutes, both times he was inebriated and
smelled strongly of gin. As I travelled through the plant, every fourth person I
saw on the line was either asleep in a chair, eating or reading a newspaper.
This also included supervisors. Every hundred feet or so was an open
'break area' consisting of a coffeepot and a TV set aimed so that the workers
could watch it from their work stations- each one tuned to a soap opera or talk
show. I saw workers jamming and forcing parts together, and throwing their
food crumbs and trash into the vehicles as they worked on the line.
I wondered why the contractor made my wear a hard hat in the building, but
the mystery was solved when the occasional small part (nut, bolt, bracket or
block of wood) came flying in our general direction from the assembly line as
we drove along. Some workers had pretty good aim, as there were some direct
hits. Once I left my tool bag unatended in our cart, and it took 10 minutes
to find it - stuffed into a trash can about 50 feet from where I had left
it.
I saw almost every foot of assembly line in that factory, from the chassis
assembly to the paint shop, to final assembly and Q.C. and I will tell you now
that 1/3 of the money you spend for a brand new GM truck goes to pay for
inefficency and waste. It cured me of ever wanting to buy a brand new car or
truck. I am not surprised that GM is closing the Janesville plant.
I see no reason for the government to 'bail out' an inherenty bad system.
IMO the whole American auto industry needs to be dismantled and rebuilt from
the ground up.
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet on behalf of Bev Christian
Sent: Sat 11/22/2008 11:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: Re: [TN] A Modern Parable
Inge,
Read an interesting article in the last couple of days. It was comparing the
U s car situation with what happened to the British car industry. There when
things got bad they amalgamated them all into British Leyland, things
continued to deteriorate, the Brit gov pumped in umpteen millions of taxpayers
money, the company needed yet more, then the Brit public said enough is enough
and it was sold off picemeal - Jaguar, Rover, Austin minis, etc. They are now
owned by the Germans, Chinese and Indians, but cars are still being made in
England. Are we about to repeat history?
Bev
----- Original Message -----
From: TechNet <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sat Nov 22 12:39:03 2008
Subject: Re: [TN] A Modern Parable
GM and Ford reminds of a big boa constrictor which swallowed an entire cow
and is hence so heavy, slow and immobile, that it can do nothing when the
big caterpillar comes roaring, Let's hope that the later runs out of
petrol, and that the former will finally wake up after a long digestion,
also that he learnt that it's far better to eat many small portions and
remain fast and strong. I have a feeling that the roles will shift. If the
japanese appetite goes on like today, THEY will be the big fat one and will
not be fast enough to run when a new scenario suddenly forms. What this
could be, I've no idea, but maybe the american car makers at that time have
the best conditions of the two.
(Myself, I don't like Toyota cars. They are good, no doubt, but they are
too 'plasty' and reminds more of large scale Dinky Toys than real cars.).
Yesterday, I saw a one hour movie about Ronald Reagan. Wow! I mean N/S RR. I
would like to spend one day onboard that carrier. Not to see nuclear
weapons, guns and missiles, but to see the engines, the steam catapults, the
large elevators, the kitchens, see the enormous radar equipments, see how
5,000 people can live on a boat etc. Just wonder if NG are planning another
one, because Ronald Reagan was designed 20 years ago. She (he?) is built for
working another 30 years. The cost was 20 billions USD. It's all crazy of
course, but I can't help being speechless when I see such creations.
Inge
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ian Hanna" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 1:17 PM
Subject: Re: [TN] A Modern Parable
Why not assume that the car companies themselves are designed and built
with attention to design detail and quality of execution that
corresponds to their respective vehicles...perhaps a more robust design
is in order
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Syed Ahmad
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 3:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] A Modern Parable
Mitt Romney wrote in yesterday's NYT about the $2k extra labor cost. But
why the US automakers cannot compete in the cars which they build
offshore with equivalent Japanese cars built on-shore?
Should $2k make much difference anyhow when people on the street are
sold on monthly payment and not on the price of the vehicle?
American automakers have the advantage that many Americans buy
American-made otherwise their sales could be even lower.
Someone on NPR was saying that Japanese have much less number of dealers
so they can weather ups and downs better.
25 billion can buy 1 million $25k autos and 2 million $12k autos. Any
number in between the two should cover all employees of IPC members
companies and their friends. Only thing we need is a private jet for the
TechNet webmaster to go to DC and lobby.
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pete Houwen
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 12:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] A Modern Parable
It goes beyond the UAW for sure, but an interesting number:
Hourly North American labor cost, GM: $81
Hourly North American labor cost, Toyota: $35
There's about $2K extra in every GM (Ford, Chrysler) car for labor. All
else
being equal, consumers will spend $2K less. So, Detroit needs to cut
corners,
and still sell small cars at a loss just to compete, meaining they need
to sell
more high margin SUVs (still at that disadvantage with more cut corners)
to
make up for it. So some of those poor decisions and lowered quality are
effectively a matter of unmanageable labor costs.
And considering you can't incentivize the workers by firing the bad ones
and
promoting the good ones, all you have are inspirational posters.
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