Word: gm
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Chrysler, Ford and GM take an average of eight more hours to make a vehicle at their North American plants than do Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Nissan is fastest at 18 hours a vehicle, and Chrysler (the U.S.-based unit of DaimlerChrysler) is slowest at 31 hours, according to the Harbour Report, an annual productivity guide. These times translate into an extra expense of $300 to $500 a vehicle for the Big Three as compared with the transplants, which in a tough market can kill already slim profit potential...
...similar technologies and practices, and upgrades continue. But execution is key. "It takes tremendous discipline to keep everything organized as you switch between models and to maintain the right quantities of supplies at the line," says Jeff Liker, an engineering professor at the University of Michigan. "In that regard, GM, Ford and Chrysler aren't as advanced...
...GM, 2.5 workers help support each retiree. Worldwide, GM's underfunded pension and health-care obligations stand at around $77 billion, which shaves an estimated $1,700 in potential profit off every sale (Ford's and Chrysler's liabilities are less severe). GM says the problem is manageable--assuming the stock market rallies and GM hits its cost-savings and revenue targets. Transplants' legacy costs aren't as high, in part because they haven't had to downsize in North America and because their governments pick up more of the costs of health care and pensions at home...
Detroit is progressing in its competition with the transplants. In terms of initial quality, its vehicles now match those produced by European transplants. GM scores close to the industry average, and Chrysler's new models show improvement over the vehicles they replaced, according to the latest survey by J.D. Power and Associates. GM, the Big Three's lowest-cost producer in terms of materials, is ahead of Chrysler and Ford in standardizing platforms across models, which reduces development costs. The influence of its North American chairman and product guru, former Chrysler and Ford executive Robert Lutz, 71, is emerging: Cadillacs...
...sprinter Michael Johnson. Coca-Cola is in for $10 million, plus a $5 million marketing partnership. For programming, among other deals, CSTV has bought national rights to all sports other than basketball and football from Notre Dame, which has millions of fans. DirecTV, the satellite operator recently acquired (from GM's Hughes Electronics) by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., has agreed to place CSTV on its sports tier, which reaches some 2.5 million subscribers and should benefit from aggressive News Corp. marketing...