Posted on 10/30/2009 9:04:59 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Bob Dewar, author of the new book A Savage Factory, was general foreman at the Ford Sharonville transmission plant in Ohio in the 1970s, and says he saw upfront the industry’s ethic of waste and meet-the-quota at all costs, quality be damned.
Car and Driver said A Savage Factory details “the savage but darkly funny war waged between the hourly line workers, the factory foreman, management, the UAW, and the ‘Detroit Mafia’—a/k/a the ‘suits from Dearborn.’ If One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest had taken place in a plant in the 1970s, it would be A Savage Factory.”
So far so typical: Detroit meeting the worst of lowered expectations. But here’s the twist. Dewar, who now works in packaging, took a tour of his old factory recently and found it transformed—and ready for the 21st century. In fact, he affirmed that Ford is now exhibiting the kind of quality control that justifies the automaker’s stellar performance in this week’s 2009 Consumer Reports reliability survey
(Excerpt) Read more at industry.bnet.com ...
UPDATE: Many workers at the Ford Motor Company are signaling that they are unwilling to help the automaker cut its labor costs further, by voting against what would be the third round of concessions in the last two years.
“The workers are essentially saying enough is enough, that they don’t see enough of a case for further concessions,” Mr. Chaison (a professor of labor relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.) said. “Ford had been making a case that it was doing better than General Motors and Chrysler, and as a result they have painted themselves into a corner, claiming that they were turning around but at the same time trying to claim that they needed major concessions to turn around.”
Ford reported a $2.3 billion profit in the second quarter, largely because of a debt restructuring effort. An analyst said recently that the company could report another profit next week. More positive news Tuesday from Consumer Reports, which said Ford “has secured its position as the only Detroit automaker with world-class reliability.”
October 27, 2009
NYTimes Business
Check amazon for a book called CAR.
Hats off to Ford for foreseeing and preparing for this recession. The problem remains that purchasing a Ford product supports the UAW and I know who the UAW supports. I’d rather buy an Asian automobile built here or not.
Ah, so begin the attacks on Ford for not letting Obama take them over. A guy who was a line foreman 40 years ago? Oh, sure, he knows absolutely everything that’s going on.
Actually, I lived in the Midwest near a big auto plant in the 1970s. Many people in the town and from the nearby bigger city worked there, and they were all highly alienated (in fact, most of them were stoned all the time, at work, which probably didn’t help quality very much) even though they got great pay and benefits for the time. The company wanted to go to some then-new Swedish workplace model, which I think was eventually used at Saturn, but the union wouldn’t even let them consider it.
So casting back to the 1970s can give attack material to both sides. Still, I must say that it’s pretty bizarre that this is the best they can do.
My Dad once bought a 1973 Ford Galaxy 2 door sedan. One of the worst cars I’d ever seen - period. It was a happy day when we got rid of it. Today I have a 2006 Fusion that is one of the best cars I’ve ever owned. Wonderful car.
Today’s Fords are a far cry from the Fords of the 70’s.
All the Fords I’ve had have been great. Will definitely consider buying another.
The quote above is probably from union bosses trying to prove that they are still needed in a world that has passed them by.
With the continual shift from basic labor/muscle to machine/robot technology, the lines between what was once labor and what is now technology management will blur and disappear...and any value of union collectivism will die with it.
This is another example of how Obama has hitched his wagon to the wrong star (in fact, a death star).
While Obama stands and point (he believes) to the future, all his actions demonstrate plainly that he is man of dead ideas (even to the inclusion of the Jeremiah Wright, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton style grievance-based racism).
I'm loving it!
The union idiots in some of these plants INTENTIONALLY sabotaged vehicles for sport.
One little trick was to drop an empty soda bottle into the door cavity where, once welded closed, it was guaranteed to produce a perpetual rattle.
All I can say is buy Ford Stock. And more ammo.
Absolutely true. My best friend bought a new GM truck and it had a pop can in the door. The union line workers would also tie a washer way up inside the undercarriage to make a rattle that would never be found without tearing down the chassis.
The union idiots in some of these plants INTENTIONALLY sabotaged vehicles for sport.
One little trick was to drop an empty soda bottle into the door cavity where, once welded closed, it was guaranteed to produce a perpetual rattle.””
You are correct: My ex-husband used to work at American Motors in Kenosha, Wis. We played cards on weekends with other line workers, and that kind of stuff was the usual topic of conversation. It was a big joke to them, and they vied for a better ‘trick’ each and every week.
That kind of thinking ws one of the reasons we are no longer together.
Leave it to a professor of labor relations to make an ignorant comment like this. It's about ensuring they create sustainable company, not "turning it around". If Ford makes a profit for one or two quarters, that doesn't wipe out a decade of losses or prove they have a sustainable financial, product, and market model. They've lost $30 billion over the last 3 years.
Wow...
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