Tag: GM

Ford spends roughly $100,000 a year on each of its first-line production supervisors. The title on the job posting is "Process Coach" - language...

Tesla builds cars in what used to be the NUMMI factory, a joint venture between Toyota and GM (which meant it was run as a Toyota plant with "Lean" practices). Before that, it was a dysfunctional GM plant. Now that it's a Tesla plant, did they learn from Toyota or does it seem more like "the old GM?"

TL;DR: GM said it believed in long-term thinking. NUMMI actually practiced it. A 1987 GM executive summary admitted that short-term financial pressure drove decisions...

TL;DR: In 1987, GM accurately documented why NUMMI worked--and it wasn't tools, techniques, or discipline. This internal report reveals a management system built on...

This summer marked 30 years since I started my first job out of college--working as an engineer at a General Motors engine plant in...

TL;DR: I learned SQDC the hard way at GM--first under cost- and throughput-obsessed leadership, then from a NUMMI-trained plant manager who showed me why...

For a long time, I've heard the phrase "the hidden factory" used to describe various forms of waste in a factory, including rework operations...

TL;DR: A GM flashback shows how blame-based, command-and-control leadership destroys accountability instead of creating it. Real accountability starts at the top--when leaders model learning,...

TL;DR: GM had the chance to learn the Toyota Production System firsthand at NUMMI starting in 1984. They didn't. I asked ChatGPT to imagine...

I've updated and am republishing an old 2005 blog post that I wrote about a former GM assembly worker, Ben Hamper, who has some...

For Episode #363, I'm joined by Crystal Davis as we discuss: What are you seeing in terms of how Covid19 is disrupting businesses? How...

Lee Iacocca, the former CEO of Chrysler, passed away on July 2. Ross Perot, founder and former CEO of EDS, also passed away a...