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To day GM's stock hit a 23 year low. A Bank of America analyst estimated a 40% chance of bankruptcy. Also a parts strike looming. All too common an occurence in America's business. Toyota sales rocket in US... Regretfully, Don
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Re: GM Sorry state of affairs!!!!
Undistinguishable looking vehicles, improved reliability but still not as good as the Japaneese, out-of-date work rules with a consequently bloated work force, and out-of-control healthcare benefits.
Sounds similar to Steel and Airlines !
Is anyone really surprised ? -
Re: GM Sorry state of affairs!!!!
Guess I had better plan on all the parts I want to buy and get them before they go out of business, right?
I guess when they leave me on the tarmac for 1 hr 15 min for a 10 minute flight (about 25 miles as the crow flies, about 50 the way they went), then I can be sure they are gone.Comment
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Re: GM Sorry state of affairs!!!!
You mentioned Toyota. Today they started production here at their Bodine Aluminum plant that cost $147 million casting engines for the Camry and Avalon with V6's. Will be casting V8's later. The plant has doubled in size from the initial plans.Comment
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Re: GM Sorry state of affairs!!!!
I bet you won't find the people at the japan and china automakers tring to negotiate 48 minute bathroom breaks into contracts either.Comment
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same thing happen to the steel workers
there was a ad in the paper with a ATV for sale that i wanted to look at. i went to this guys house and the first thing i noticed was 2 caddy in the drive. inside the garage he had 4 snowmobiles,4 dirt bikes and 4 ATVs. i made him a offer on the ATV i wanted BUT he said he had to sell all 4 to the same person. i did not understand this till i got back in the car with mrs clem who was a F&I person at the dealership, she told me that he had all 4 financed on the same note so he could not sell one at a time and get the titles without paying them all off.Comment
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Re: GM Sorry state of affairs!!!!
I believe you have that out of context.
I believe the article was that the company had measured the times and found that bathroom time averaged 48 minutes per day per person.
A few ideas on this:
1. That would be time away from the job, not time sitting on the pot. So you have to figure the walk to the john. Let's see how you do. Set a timer on your computer, get up, walk outside and around the house, then come in and go to the bathroom. Go back out, walk the other way around the hose, come in, go to your computer, and stop the timer. I bet it is a lot more time than you think. And your walk would be similar; they don't have bathrooms at your elbow in a plant, it is a fair walk away.
Then count the number of times you go a day. Think of those days with the rot gut chili or the day after the football tailgate party or so on. I bet there are a few extra trips on those.
2. Now that you have established you don't spend 5 minutes a day in the head, think about how it works on an automated assembly line. You don't just say, "Wait a minute, I've got to go" because the line doesn't stop. So if you disappear for 48 minutes out of the day, someone has to fill in or everything stops.
3. Now if the union is negotiating that, then understand that because of #2 above (no pun intended), you need to get that time accounted for to protect someone from being fired for something they have to do naturally. There is probably no need in Japan or China because isn't some bean counter saying you can't go to the loo.
Or do you want to fire someone for having to go to the restroom?Comment
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Re: GM Sorry state of affairs!!!!
Most day shift assembly line workers in GM plants start at the crack of dawn and generally get a morning and afternoon 23 minute paid break as well as a 30 minute unpaid lunch. Unscheduled bathroom breaks are usually easly accomodated, but working on the line is hard work.It's always easy to blame the UAW,but GM's current woes are a lot more complicated than hourly workers cofee breaks.Comment
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Re: GM Sorry state of affairs!!!!
Mike
You reminded me of a friend back in college that wanted a state construction job...for the summer.
He went for an onsite interview and the foreman said..okay.. go over to that truck and bring back the pail back here. So.. my friend hurried to the truck and back...anxious to get the job.
The foreman said..No No No..way too fast!Comment
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around here in PA the joke is
what is big and yellow and sleeps 6??? a crew cab PENN-DOT truckComment
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Re: around here in PA the joke is
Clem,I believe that is universal, at least it is the same here in NC. At least they do try to hide while on the jobDick WhittingtonComment
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Re: around here in PA the joke is
Clem,
That was also the joke about Defence Department construction engineering (CE) vehicles (they were painted commercial yellow as well). A pilot friend of mine were walking by the CE section on a base some years back and he commented on a line of these crew cabs parked along the side of the road. Each had a driver either sleeping, reading the paper or eating his lunch (it was mid-morning). My response was "haven't you heard the joke about what's yellow and sleeps six?"
A "re-engineering" effort a few years later saw most of these people out of a job or converted to broader employment parameters; ie: driving AND helping the tradesmen AND loading/unloading the truck. Sometimes the union mentality gets a little carried away.
Speaking of coffe break times, etc, at the large (almost 1/2 mile long) postal facility just outside Toronto it was negotiated into the contract that workers had time built into their breaks to travel from one end of the plant to the other and back (even though there are break rooms/canteens at several locations throughout). This was so they could have their break with friends and colleagues that worked in another area....
The Japanese auto industry in North America has avoided many of these pitfalls, partly because they've inculcated a different workplace culture from the outset and partly because they're new in town and haven't had to contend with militant unionism (or bad management practices) over the long term. They also have an advantage over the US automakers in that their plants in the US are satellites; too much union trouble and they can schedule production elsewhere. Maybe their workers understand that...
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