I thought economies of scale related to the size of a production facility
- not to the size of the company or its market share. 300,000
vehicles\year sounds in the ballpark for an auto assembly plant. An auto
company can have as many plants as the market will bear of the size that
is most efficient - and this will change as technology changes.
I visited Louisville, KY a few weeks ago and went to see the Toyota
factory in Georgetown, KY. According to their PR material, they made
306,000 Camrys in 1996 and 78,000 Avalons there. They also built 500,000
power trains. They talked about the power train facility as if it was a
separate factory; although it's at the same location, it also supplies
other plants. This plant works a lot of mandatory overtime. They
subsidize child care on site so people can work over on short notice and
claim that they will adjust hours to changes in demand rather than laying
off.
Some of their efficiencies are gained by "orientation and assimilation of
team members". (Those are the words of the tour guide.) Stamping, paint
and body weld areas are almost completely automated. Robot to human ratio
is 1:10 overall. Most humans seemed to be in assembly. Once they develop
robots with fine motor skills, this will change.
At Toyota, Joe - and Jane - Sixpack are alive and well and kaizening for
dollars. (At GE Appliance Park, where I used to work, it's a whole other
story.)
------Laurie
Laurie Dougherty
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
