Posted on 12/07/2017 11:38:47 AM PST by Strac6
A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.
On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile .
The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.
Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people paddling and 1 person steering, while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people paddling.
Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.
They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were paddling.
Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the paddling team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.
They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people paddling the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the paddlers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices, and bonuses. The pension program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant savings were channelled into morale boosting programs and teamwork posters.
The next year the Japanese won by two miles..
Humiliated, the American management laid off one paddler, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and cancelled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses.
The next year, try as he might, the lone designated paddler was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles), so he was laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India.
Sadly, the End.
Here's something else to think about: GM has spent the last thirty years moving as many factories as it could out of the US, claiming they can't make money paying American wages.
TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US.
The last quarter's results:
TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while GM rack s up 9 billion in losses.
GM folks are still scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses.
If you want to read a good book on the car industry, Ford Vs. Nissan, read Robert Lacy’s book, “The Reckoning”.
I opposed the bailout, but I would have taken the "decision made, now let's move forward" approach and bought another if they hadn't screwed the bond holders.
As for now, I'd consider buying one only because Trump won, but they're still not high on my list.
“I just passed my first smog check on my 2011 Silverado in July, at about 236,000 miles.
I was just comparing notes with a 2011 Suburban owner. I had my 2003 Suburban with me, and we chatted it up a bit.
The GMT800 truck has been my favorite since my 2000 Yukon. Reliable, well built and optioned appropriately. The GMC is built for the commercial / professional consumer (Who tends to buy fleets of them and GMC likes to treat them well) and the Chevy is “essentially” the same, but there are differences in quality. The Silverado, for instance doesn’t offer a manual trans but the GMC Sierra does. There is no other reason other than a few clients actually requesting it. Chevy doesn’t care about customer requests.
But these trucks ARE THE LAST of the quality, available models we have. The rest are just made to be as cheap as possible. The trucks are built the best because they need those return customers who get vehicles that withstand commercial use.
I had (have, still apparently) an E46 BMW as well. This was one of the award winning BMWs. Since then they are all faster, they are all nicer and full of more toys - but they break in catastrophic ways. A new BMW will leave you stranded on the highway with no electrical at all. Hell, I’ve even seen a Honda Accord do that.
So for me, cars died in 1991 and trucks in 2008. Motorcycles are the next since we’re now out of our “golden age of motorcycles” and we’re back to putting lipstick on pigs in the 2 wheel world. Although Harley is coming out with some new stuff and the jury is still out if it’s good or if it’s just cool harley junk.
I’m pretty reluctant to buy another new vehicle, especially in light of their increasing electronic “smart” stuff. I also got such a ridiculous deal on it with GM just coming off the ropes that I’ve seen used ones this past summer for more than I paid for new. Whenever it starts to blow a bunch of oil or such I’ll get a crate engine put in. When it comes down to it if you’re not concerned with impressing people the frame and suspension of a heavy duty version of a truck will basically last forever out west.
Oh, I did put a tranny in mine at 185K, but doing that rather than tear it down was a decision made in large part for amount of driving I do, a lot of it for work too. Dealer gave me a loaner for 2 weeks and the replacement has 100k warranty. I put 2000 miles on the loaner and I did note that they’d really kicked up the mileage, we got 19.9 on highway doing 80-85 whole time and I usually run around 17-19 in mine.
I couldn’t believe I made it this long without a pickup truck, it’s my office, I sleep in the bed out at the ranch, cart all my treasure/prospecty stuff about, drive it across the country, it’s the modern horse :-)
Went from a almost problem free 93 supra 300,000+ miles to an even more expensive Nissan/Infiniti J30.
The Infiniti had loads of problems and didn’t run nearly as smooth as the Toyota.
My niece bought a used 2006 Nissan Altima last spring, car on the outside looks fantastic, inside is cheap looking plastic.
Car runs and drives like a 72 Pinto jalopy.
Won’t ever consider a Nissan product again.
W. Edwards Deming.
i have a 99 camry that I bought off the local toyota dealer lot in 2011 with 100,465 on the clock.
my kid drives it now, every day...it has 157,650 at last check.
car is old enough to vote...almost as old as the kid driving it. purrs like a kitten. I swapped all cars in my garage to Toyota/Mazda.
I used to work as a quality manager to a GM supplier...this was before they were killing people and trying to hide behind their bankruptcy...
they are the worst company I have ever encountered. ethics, business, etc. EVER.
good riddance to crappy trash. GFY GM
I hope to get that kind of life from the Tacoma and Camry.
As for fine GM products, I will stay with the 79 Blazer that I try to work on.
in a previous quality role, I was responsible for 3-4 parts in every GMT800 platform vehicle.
when they redesigned that platform, it started the economic downslide in Michigan in 2005-2006, as much of the component work was offshored to China.
great strategy, GM.......lol
idiots
-—i have a 99 camry that I bought off the local toyota dealer lot in 2011 with 100,465 on it-—
By far the best vehicle I ever owned. I had two 1999 at the time...
Both had almost 250 k on them each before I got rid of them.
Toyota makes rubbish?
Compared to what?
You might want to cut back on whatever is causing delusions...
Toyota doesn’t make rubbish but they’re not what they used to be. Something changed along about 2008 or so, the build quality slipped.
I’ve owned three Maxima SE’s in my life, the first two were just awesome cars, incredibly well-built and well-designed with a boatload of options, they were a steal at the price they were offered new and very good cars, an 85 and a 90. The third one was not a good car though, a 96, and it put me off of Nissan. Transaxle problems, clattered like a diesel starting up in cold weather and not low on oil either, flimsy interior, switched the independent rear suspension to a torsion bar, odd handling in poor traction situations, terrible snow car.
Whose memory is still revered in Japan.
Same with nissan
After a long line of beloved but oft repaired GM cars, in ‘03 bought a new Highlander which still has another 125k to go. It hasn’t nickel and dimed me like my 80’s and 90’s Chevy’s. Doesn’t ride as smooth as a GM, but it’s sturdy like an old 50’s Chevy pickup.
After a long line of beloved but oft repaired GM cars, in ‘03 bought a new Highlander which still has another 125k to go. It hasn’t nickel and dimed me like my 80’s and 90’s Chevy’s. Doesn’t ride as smooth as a GM, but it’s sturdy like an old 50’s Chevy pickup.
Although there are things I’d change on my Sienna if I could, it’s a great vehicle on the whole. Doesn’t hurt that because I was working for them at the time, I got a great price and financing through Toyota Financial Services. Highlanders are really good vehicles too. I considered one before settling on the Sienna since I needed the room for two dogs, a cat, my computers and assorted other stuff on my cross country move. Needless to say, the dogs were up for the adventure while the cat was not amused, lol.
“Toyota makes rubbish?
Compared to what?
You might want to cut back on whatever is causing delusions...”
You might wanna cut back on whatever it is that makes you lash out like I’m an idiot.
I am a founder of the Old Celicas Club in 1991. I have owned 25 Celicas, 14 Supras, 6 Corollas, 4 Tercels, 4 4Runners, 2 trucks, and even the first-year JDM direct import of a Rav4. I’ve had articles written about my builds, been invited to speak at regional dealers and factory meetings. I had a 79 Celica with 600,000 miles on it. And yes, it rusted apart.
The newer cars, such as the Yaris were dangerous and should have been fully recalled because when you hit the brakes, the ass-end picks up and it almost flips forward. A dangerous, dangerous POS. The modern trucks rust just like the 80s ones do.
My friend picked up a 2014 Corolla in the spring of 2014. He wound up getting every penny back after 4 months because the floor boards had rusted apart from the frame. And his sunroof leaked. It leaked because it rolled off the dealer floor with rust near the sunroof.
The new vans have this interesting issue where the rear doors just come up. While you’re driving. The fix is to disable the power door motors so it doesn’t happen again. New trucks are so plagued by rust that lawsuits are just being settled left and right.
2010 Camry came into the Scranton dealer with a shorted ECU. It shorted because rust near the windshield developed into a leak right onto the circuitry.. Resulting in a complete shut-down at speed on the highway. No electrical at all. Steering, lights, nothing. No hazards. People almost died.
Then the fires that plague the Prius. Concentrated so much on the electrical wires and current-carrying stuff that they ignored the brake booster that pops when you hit something - causing a fire.
These cars are complete pieces of sh!t. My older Toyotas were the best in the world. But after 91 they became the biggest, most popular number-1 selling hunks of junk there is.
All I can tell you is my two 1999 Camrys were just about the perfect cars....
Both were sold at almost 250,000 miles with reg maintenance and one bad master cylinder. Both had the timing belt pop when it was time to replace them...
Besides that....nothing major at all...
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