A Modern Parable

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[TC1]

A Modern Parable
A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford) 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 rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing. 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 rowing. Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager. They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.
 
The next year the Japanese won by two miles. Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold
the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was outsourced to India... Sadly, the End.
 
Sad, but oh so true! Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories 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 Ford racked up 9 billion in losses. Ford folks are still scratching their heads. IF THIS WASN'T SO SAD IT MIGHT BE FUNNY!
 
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I received this from a fellow who works for a very large Rental Car company and who knows the "inside workings" of the automotive industry. This is the joke going around the automotive industry at the moment, but some companies (Ford, GM, etc.) do not realize how true this 'parable' really is...

[Valkyrie]

Oh ya, this is so true.  I read it thinking this could be real.  Think they'd ever realise it though?  I doubt it.  You'd have to have someone who could look outside of the box to actually come up with real solutions instead of what they've been doing for decades.

[compman777]

so is that why toyota is selling more cars? I just thought that ford makes crappy cars?

[Valkyrie]

LOL Deja vu!    Yup, that and the Americans finally see past the saturation advertising.  Because Quality is NOT Job 1, contrary to what Lee Iaccoca says!

[TC1]

When Lee Iaccoca took over Chrysler years ago he had a 3 part plan:
 
1. He got Chrysler out of debt by borrowing money from the US governement at really sweet rates.
2. He then proceeded with a massive advertising campaign telling the US consumer how great had become.
3. He then produced some of the worse cars ever produced by an American manufacturer. Remember the "K Cars." He slapped a good price on them and they all included an extended warranty. Of course the way the warranty was written very few could collect on warranty claims.

Ultimately, Lee Iaccoca was a salesman getting people to buy into the junker cars his company sold - and it worked. Quality "selling" is No. 1, while selling Quality is a no-no.

[Valkyrie]

Yup.  Sounds exactly the way I remember it.  The K cars were a joke.  I don't know anyone with the exception of my mother-in-law who was stupid enough to buy one.

[compman777]

so is that why Lee Iaccoca sold the company to the german car makers.

[Valkyrie]

What do you mean?

[TC1]

Add "me" to your list of people you know who were stupid enough to buy a Chrysler K-Car. I bought a K-Car because I knew the same engine in K-Cars were used in extra heavy duty industrial forklifts and lasted forever. Or at least I thought so.
 
This is funny now, but for years it wasn't funny at all. When I had trouble cranking the car on cold mornings, I realized that a handheld hairdryer blowing out very hot air unto the cold carb. unfroze the carburetor and then it started without a problem. Little did I know that this process was actually written into one of Chrysler's service manuals and distributed to Chrysler dealers.
 
When I demanded Chrysler reimburse me for air-conditioner repairs, this case was bumped to arbitration. The people at the dealership laughed at me when they heard this and some statements were made along the lines - I wouldn't last 5 minutes with the company arbitrator. I took him the bills to where I had work done on my air-conditioner and he finally agreed that I should get reimbursed "IF" I had the parts. FYI - most people do not keep those oil encrusted parts that had been thrown on the ground by the mechanic. The mechanic did this as insurance against people picking them up. Guess what? I got them anyway and put them in a cardboard box for the day my case came up at arbitration.
 
After the arbitrator fought me again about my claim ( and it almost came to physical blows a couple of times) he finally sided for me, but only 'if' I could not only produce the written work done, which was easy to do, but also they wanted to see nasty dirty parts. I told him to keep his seat and I went outside to get the parts and I literally dumped them in his lap. He became livid, but in the end he wrote my check. Dirty, and greasy clothed, he wrote me a check for repairs then told me to leave. I of course laughed and told him "Sure, now that I have gotten my check."

[Valkyrie]

Okay but you actually had a sound reason for buying one.  She bought hers based solely on price and colour.

And obviously you are smarter than she was because you thought to keep those parts.  I'd never do it, that's for sure.

Man, I would have loved to be there to watch that guy's face when you dumped the parts in his lap.  Aside from being filthy, were they also heavy?    Yup, I'd have to say in this case I really hope that his "pride" was a tad bruised!

[compman777]

so a blue car isn't better then a black one. :O I might be in trouble then.

[Valkyrie]

LOL  Yup, that's how my stepsister chooses her autos!  

[compman777]

well she might get lucky by doing that that way.

[Valkyrie]

ROFL  Not yet.  And she's been buying cars for about 25 years now.

[compman777]

well in the next 25 years she could pick the right car next.