On Monday 30 October 2006 10:14, Jones Beene wrote: > Fess-up, Detroit: where are you? > > In automotive, it's no longer the Prius, but it is still "from" > Japan. > > http://automobiles.honda.com/models/awards.asp?ModelName=Civic+Hybrid&Num=0 > > I should say the design only is from Japan. Honda's six US > factories generally have higher quality ratings then their > Japanese counterparts. Part of that due to the fact the factories > are newer, the work force is slightly younger,
Or maybe it is that Americans by their very nature are better with machinery and industrial processes. Remember there is now a common management system in place in Japan and the United States in the subject factories..both are on Deming's ISOx000 and/or its successors working to the same blueprints. That's roughly enough common factors for a true comparison of Japanese and American workforces. Age is not that much a factor in a factory setting, and in fact, older workers will pay attention to business more. >the unions not as > hostile - Unions in both the United States and Japan have to contend with management that cares little for them but will cooperate to an extent when forced to. Japanese management is a bit more stentorian, but then so are the Japanese workers when they know they are acting in a common interest. Remember that 'kamikaze' is a Japanese word! I have personally been to Japan and have seen the 'zenga-kuren' (probably horribly mis-spelled) in labor and political strikes. They dress just like the police complete with shield and armor and helmet, something that our own gestapo would try to make illegal. I am sure it is just as illegal in Japan, but so were strikes in both countries from time to time. Remember, a labor strike is not a sunday school social. For either side. In the United States, weak unions invite physical attacks of its weakest members by shadowy 'security organizations' the mention of whose very name inspires lawsuits from these 'wack........o's and whose name is written in blood all across the southern states of the United States. This is documented in pictures in just about any union hall in the United States. When heads were broken by ax handles here and would be union members were arrested, the 'crime' was usually 'conspiring to increase their wages'. Managements get the kinds of unions they deserve. but mostly due to top-down brainpower... which sadly, is > lacking from Detroit. I would say the ideology of managements is roughly the same in both Japan and in the United States inasmuch as the manager is supposed to hold the company and its interests foremost in his considerations. In Japan this leads to 'Kaizen', striving to be better. In the United States this is perverted to mean screw your co-worker out of his/her job. Therefore we are not talking about a lack of brainpower intrinsically, but of management inefficiency due to supervisors constantly working with a view to what is behind them or how they can be second guessed by jealous or ambitious co-workers or career climbing underlings. You do not work at your best if you are in a gangfight! in a shark tank, and modern businesses are shark tanks. This is a stratosphere of inflated salaries that can disappear in a heartbeat along with the standards of living to which these pampered darlings have become accustomed. In Japan the salaries of management are low, the difference now being made up with large expense accounts. There are fewer scandals in Japan about padding these. I would additionally add the propensity of nepotism and cronyism that abounds in companies and governmental agencies here in the United States. Americans use people..look at Tom Delay and Marc Foley, and Mike Skilling. Japanese see people as a real resource to be protected and developed. da Bear
