Study up a bit on W.E. Deming. Japan took his ideas to heart after studying them to death and yes ..made a near religion out of it. Meanwhile Detroit laughed and for 40+ years turned out cars with "style" etc.. The fundamental differences between the two manufacturing approaches is not trivial. Toyota etc will continues to kick Detroit's butt for years to come...the empty suits still don't get it.
Exactly. GM is just *now* learning that putting a crappy interior into an otherwise acceptable vehicle = no sales.
I'd agree with you on the success of Toyota on leverage of a high quality product message. It makes good consumer marketing sense when considering such a large purchase. My cynicism over the Georgetown, KY plant story was really over how pervasive this 'religion' was beyond management layers. I may just take you up on your advice on Deming, lately my business reading has been focused on sales.