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Automotive News & Views GM News, New Models and Market Share
8226 messages, Last post on Nov 20, 2009 at 11:18 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Dec 01, 2008 6:01 pm) Collecting or getting data, is different from analyzing data. You can sometimes trust people in a biased organization - and by that I mean one that has friendly and/or financial ties, to collect data. But when it comes to analyzing the data, we have learned to use as neutral of people as we can to write an unbiased report. $ is too corrupting to allow people who are employed or otherwise benefit from the analysis, from writing the analysis. That is why we don't let power companies hire a consulting agency to come in and inspect their nuclear plants, or for drug companies to hire consultants to come in and review the testing, or for the home football team to hire the referees. But you don't even need any high-powered analysts to do this. Look at the history of companies that have fallen. It has never been the case that a single company failure brought down an entire industry, when customers still exist. When U.S. steel went under, other stell companies prospered. When DEC and Wang went others, Dell and HP grew. When General Dynamics and other defense contractors laif off hundreds of thousands in 1990, others prospered and the workers got other jobs. If you think the failure of GM is going to bring down the economy, then give some examples of failures that have done so. It just doesn't happen, as the world works on an equilibrium. If 12M vehicles are in demand here in the U.S. 12M will be bought and sold, no matter who's nameplate is on it. The market is very efficient in that respect. |
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Replying to: circlew (Dec 01, 2008 5:38 pm) 
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http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2008-12-01-automakers-bailout_N.htm "CAR has tried to quantify that case. An automaker-commissioned study found 3 million U.S. jobs would be lost in the first year if the Detroit 3 go under." What a surprise on the conclusion! "Ford Chairman Bill Ford told National Public Radio that the company is negotiating with CEO Alan Mulally on a cut in pay and perks. In two years, Ford has paid CEO Alan Mulally nearly $50 million and allowed $752,000 worth of personal and family use of company planes. "We're talking to Alan about it," said Ford, who's taken no salary for four years. "We are very sensitive to public opinion." GM CEO Rick Wagoner has not publicly agreed to a pay cut, although he took cuts in 2006 and 2007. His base pay returned to $2.2 million this year. His total take for 2007 was $14.4 million." All executive/salaried/UAW bonuses should be returned to the corporations for the last several years, unless that company made $; should be a stipulation of any aid! This is money that we otherwise would not have had to loan them!  |
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Replying to: bpizzuti (Dec 02, 2008 5:51 am) I could see Ford wanting a higher-priced sports car; and would pick up the Corvette plant. I could also see Ford buying Jeep.
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Replying to: kernick (Dec 02, 2008 7:16 am) Automaker bailouts a global problem (Straightline) 
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Replying to: bpizzuti (Dec 02, 2008 5:51 am) |
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Dec 01, 2008 6:11 pm) |
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Replying to: steve_ (Dec 02, 2008 7:25 am) VW, Toyota, Nissan, Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, Subaru, and many other makes are doing okay, because they didn't go into this "financial storm" in bad-shape, and they understand that economies fluctuate and they need to plan for good and bad times. For instance many Toyota plants look at a slow-down as an opportunity for everyone to learn new skills, and to analyze and improve the whole plant's processes thru Kaizen events.
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Replying to: kernick (Dec 02, 2008 8:28 am) If I recall correctly, it was Ford that was first of Big 3 that looked at and started to adopt some of Japan's quality/process improvement methods. They had a slogan of, "Quality is Job One". Believe that American manufacturers took notice of Japanese quality and techniques in late 80's. But, what is amazing about the culture of GM and its leadership is that they condoned and agreed to things like jobs banks instead of viewing downturns in sales as an opportunity to train/retrain/update skills.
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Replying to: xrunner2 (Dec 02, 2008 8:41 am) http://www.assemblymag.com/Articles/Blog/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_1000000000000045712- 5 This magazine - Assembly, is fairly good if you're into manufacturing methods and continuous improvement, like I am. They do run positive articles on many American companies, but it is mainly based on technology, and not methods. I believe most American manufacturers union agreements keep them from innovating like the non-union factories can. A non-union workplace, can change and improve faster than a union workplace, and thus has a distinct "agility" advantage.
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