Word: toyotas
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...After all, Japan's own big three - Toyota, Honda and Nissan - have battled for decades to surpass once mighty GM, Ford and Chrysler. Now it would appear victory is at hand. Even if lawmakers bail out all three, the U.S. companies will require major restructuring that will leave them smaller and weaker, making it easier for their Asian rivals to gain market share both in the U.S. and globally. (See the 50 worst cars of all time...
...Detroiters made the pilgrimage to Fremont en masse to see the miracle of NUMMI. Some dismissed what should have become a model for the entire industry. True, the technology wasn't that innovative. But Toyota had made the workforce integral to improving the system. Workers were not mere labor inputs. GM had no problem understanding the just-in-time inventory system Toyota used, but executing it required a buy-in from the shop floor so that everyone was dedicated to improvement. The Toyota system, says MacDuffie, "relies on contributions from employees. It feels vulnerable, but your willingness to be open...
...senior lecturer Steven Spear, a lean-manufacturing specialist who has worked on production lines at both a Detroit Three and a Toyota plant, says the problem worsened over the years as products and manufacturing inevitably got more sophisticated. Merely upgrading a Toyota, he says, requires 300 man-years of engineering. No single manager can ever understand it. "Figuring out products, markets, customers, designs, systems - what's inherent about anything complex is that it becomes impossible. You can't design it perfectly," he says. What matters, he argues, is swarming problems from every direction to create high-speed, low-cost discovery...
...easy credit and discount pricing. In a normal economy, the true size of the business may be closer to 15 million units. The Detroit Three simply have to generate more revenue per car and, not incidentally, a profit. Right now, the revenue gap per car is $4,000 vs. Toyota...
...more money soon was met with great skepticism from both the lawmakers and an economist testifying side by side with the CEOs, Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com. Given declining vehicle sales and market share and the amount of profit they make per car - about $4,000 less than Toyota, for example - Zandi said he expects the Big Three would survive only until fall 2009 before they would be forced to return to Washington to beg for more money. "I'm skeptical, doubtful that it's going to end in $34 billion," he said. "I estimate it'll be more...