Hope for Detroit?

An even easier way is to treat customers and suppliers with respect, instead of relentlessly cheapening the cars and beating up suppliers for cost savings.

I don't see value engineering as much as cheap engineering that cheats the customer with plastic wheel cover "nuts" and lightbulbs that fail sooner than those from the other car makers.

Oh, I get it, I guess it would be easier to reengineer brand new technologies than for these guys to reform. It will have to be technology that saves detroit, their ethics and business acumen (ie group think) certainly won't.

milo

Ha ha! I found this posting on a site bewailing National Semiconductor "letting Bob Pease go".

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at 3/17/2009 2:03:42 PM, Brian Baller said:
Sorry, but I have been told for years that engineers were a "necessary evil". I recently discovered that they can be replaced by teams of marketing people like myself. The old paradigm has ended. We are about to gain traction in a new vector by leveraging our core competencies to better position ourselves to execute our new imperative.
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"By leveraging our core competencies" in other words, jus selling the legacy of the engineers, by gilding it over with 'new imperative' marketing-ness.

Reminds me of when I left my mill in Georgia. We had had 33out of 36 months of double digit growth in shipments, sales dollars, and profits, with no new capital dollars starting when I took over. I was moved out of authority,to new assignment (its always politics) and they logged 17 consecutive months of double digit loss of sales, and ran in the red for 2 years. The marketing guy that pulled the trigger installed a sales guy was sure that a 'sales professional' could do a better job than "that techie." In the end the work that I had been doing got split between 5 people (three were new hires additional bodies) before they got stabilized.

Its pretty easy to sell if the operations and technology are stable. If not, you need a process thinker to keep things running and eliminate problems. None of the sales and marketing pros in my experience could even spell process...

Thanks for the Brian Baller quote. May it live in infamy.

milo

QUOTE:

Screw Detroit. The first "gas crisis" hit in 1976. I'll save you the math that was 33 years ago. Yes 33 years and they still haven't figured out that we need small fuel efficient vehicles. They continue to spend their engineering dollars on more bells and whistles and useless geegaws than actual improvements. In 1976 you could buy a gallon of gas for 60 cents, a new econo box cost $1900. Now gas if "high" at $2.50/ gallon, a 416% increase. A new econo box now costs $22000, a 1157% increase, and the damn thing still only hauls your ass from point A to point B. I will buy one to those $2000 Chineese cars as soon as they show up here. Until then, Hyundai.

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People don't really want the small econo-box vehicles, that's why Small "SUV, & Pickup" sales have been through the roof in the last 18 years. They have function as well as economy (unless You add the large Engine package).

If You want to add techno Gadgets, buy Yourself a Bluetooth Headset for Your phone, and an MP3 player, why wait for Detroit to accessorize Your ride, it is Yours after You payoff the payment book after-all.

Improvements Detroit can/must make, "Power-Distribution", improvements in how the Power gets from the Engine to the Wheels are evolving, whether You see the benefits in 1 year or 10, things are starting to change. Obama or not...

But overthinking a problem won't solve it, do something, buy the 1969 Lincoln Mark with the "Trailer Hitch", drop the Automatic Tranny & Driveshaft, and swap in a "Fluid Power" Hydraulic Pump/Motor setup, You'll be able to cruise the Highway at 75MPH while the 460cu in. Engine is idling @ 700RPM(Towing a Boat even).

At Stop lights You'll be the envy of every "Hummer" Driver out there, and still have the Kick-A$$ Sounds when You rev the engine, while getting 40MPG around town.

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Fluid drive, very cool idea, I wonder if I can make that work on a 4wd truck?

Quote:

Fluid drive, very cool idea, I wonder if I can make that work on a 4wd truck?

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Yup, some rock climbers already do use it. And next time You drive past one of those heavy equipment rental places, stop to think/look how many of them have high-pressure fluid drive rather than a gearbox.

I am working on a vehicle that is going to be Cummins powered, just a small one the pick-up version of the motor. This is worth a study I think, I will stop by the CAT dealer next week to have a look at the heavy equipment. Sounds like good fun.

Will the group think and next quarter think of Detroit ever end, NO IT WILL NOT. For proof of this just look at the brief they took to the government for funding, nothing new at all, just a LOT of cost reduction, same old same old.

A funny thing happened to me upon my return to my government cubicle when my disability ran out. I was surprised that all the documents I had created two years earlier where still on the server. I found a document from June 2006 that I had crafted. The document outlined the then future hardships that the big three would face if changes were not implemented. Since I am a member of the automotive media, I used some of my contacts to get the e-mail addresses of the Chairman, and Presidents of the big three and sent them all individual e-mails with the document. I also offered my assistance, being a process thinker, rather that an 'in the box' thinker.

Ford sent me a 'thank you' form letter, the basic piss off type of thing.

Chrysler didn't even acknowledge the e-mail, but did change the addresses.

GM sent me a similar letter to that of Ford, but they also had a member of their security department call and threaten me.

Now for the funny part, here we are three years later, and they are exactly where I predicted where they would be, on the edge and about to fall in.

News is not good from the White House either, the president said 'if they do not change their ways no more funding will be forthcoming' , seems they are not impressed either with the direction of no change the 'not so big three' are taking. Yes i watch too much news.