buckaroo
Here kitty, kitty, kitty
This week's episode of "This American Life" in NPR deals with this very subject. I thought that I would be able to put up a link to the transcript of the show, but these days, they offer podcasts only. If you would like to listen to the show, just google this american life and follow the links. But since I couldn't like to the transcript, I'll try to hit the highlites. The show was in two parts. The first part explained how GM and Toyota opened a joint venture called NUMMI in Fremont, California. Prior to 1984, this plant was said to be the worst of the worst of any car manufacturer plant in the US. If you wanted it, you could get it at the plant, from drugs and alcohol to sex, it was all available. By the early 80's, Japanese cars were making a big dent in the sales of cars in the US. GM decided to see what they could do about that. What came from that was the NUMMI plant. First GM closed the plant for a while and then went about reopening it. They didn't want the same union bosses because they were what GM felt was part of the problem. It was, but there are two sides of this issue to deal with. Part two of the show talks about that. Anyway, GM got together with the union top boss and talked about the re-hiring process. The top dog said that okay, but he would have the first 50 hirees. Those 50 were the top union officials that were there when it was closed. GM didn't have a choice and agreed, reluctantly.
Next, GM talked with Toyota to ask what they could do to produce better quality cars. Toyota went overboard to explain and teach GM their secret. What happened next was that GM sent groups of 30 or so workers from the plant to Tokyo to work with Toyota to learn. Supervision was inluded. I won't get into what those guys learned, but when they left Japan, all of them, the old vets who were among the worst came back with a total different attitude. The secret was in essence working in teams. When the plant in California re-opened in '84, they began to produce some of the best quality products that GM ever produced.
The success was obvious so GM decided to duplicate what they had learned.
Part two. Always before this experiment, there was such a rift between the union and GM that it stymied production. Once the two learned to work together, things changed. So when GM tried to get other plants to copy what was learned at the NUMMI plant, the direction they took led to the company down fall. They thought they could just tell the plants to copy what was learned but old management idea were a road block. Plant managers began to go back to what they were used to doing, and thus, the union did as well. Instead of team work, it was union against management as usual.
Finally, after ten years, GM was having some success in the new way of working. However, though the cars were of better quality, the top bosses at GM didn't think that smaller was the future and continued to market larger cars, suvs and trucks. Things went very well until gas hit $4.00 a gallon and then the big recession. GM could not recover from that and the rest is history. GM left the NUMMI plant, leaving it totally Toyota, even though it was the best production model of any of their plants. Now Toyota is going to close the plant very soon. It is the only US plant that is unionized.
The secret of Japan's success? It takes teamwork, both labor and management. Quality first, quantity as it comes As I've said many times before, it wasn't just the union that drove GM to fall, management had to agree with everything the union asked for.
Next, GM talked with Toyota to ask what they could do to produce better quality cars. Toyota went overboard to explain and teach GM their secret. What happened next was that GM sent groups of 30 or so workers from the plant to Tokyo to work with Toyota to learn. Supervision was inluded. I won't get into what those guys learned, but when they left Japan, all of them, the old vets who were among the worst came back with a total different attitude. The secret was in essence working in teams. When the plant in California re-opened in '84, they began to produce some of the best quality products that GM ever produced.
The success was obvious so GM decided to duplicate what they had learned.
Part two. Always before this experiment, there was such a rift between the union and GM that it stymied production. Once the two learned to work together, things changed. So when GM tried to get other plants to copy what was learned at the NUMMI plant, the direction they took led to the company down fall. They thought they could just tell the plants to copy what was learned but old management idea were a road block. Plant managers began to go back to what they were used to doing, and thus, the union did as well. Instead of team work, it was union against management as usual.
Finally, after ten years, GM was having some success in the new way of working. However, though the cars were of better quality, the top bosses at GM didn't think that smaller was the future and continued to market larger cars, suvs and trucks. Things went very well until gas hit $4.00 a gallon and then the big recession. GM could not recover from that and the rest is history. GM left the NUMMI plant, leaving it totally Toyota, even though it was the best production model of any of their plants. Now Toyota is going to close the plant very soon. It is the only US plant that is unionized.
The secret of Japan's success? It takes teamwork, both labor and management. Quality first, quantity as it comes As I've said many times before, it wasn't just the union that drove GM to fall, management had to agree with everything the union asked for.
