Following up on yesterday’s post that talked about “the old GM” putting cost ahead of quality, I sometimes get flashbacks to my days working for General Motors. I once slammed a greasy connecting rod down on my manager’s desk at GM.…
I don’t often go back to write about GM, the first company I worked for out of college. Thanks to my dad who sent this article from the Detroit paper: “GM delays 2nd shift at Detroit-Hamtramck.” You might think, as…
TL;DR — GM vs. Toyota After the Japan Earthquake General Motors (GM) Toyota Bottom line:This wasn’t a failure of JIT or Lean. It was a leadership choice. Toyota showed that real Lean is about how you treat people when work…
Today’s blog post will be just a bunch of random thoughts. For one, I just got back from London last night after a whirlwind Lean healthcare tour. I visited five hospitals between London and the south of England in three…
Toyota Names Akio Toyoda President, Apologizes to Shareholders for Losses This was rumored for a while, but Toyota has formally named Akio Toyoda as the next President. Yes, “Toyoda” with a “d” — that’s the family name. Back when Toyota…
The infamous “Jobs Bank” was created in the 1980s to protect UAW members from job losses that would otherwise result from automation and robotics. An excellent summary is found here: The Jobs Bank was created as GM made its plants…
UAW suspends jobs bank, delays retiree fund payments – USATODAY.com So this might be the end of the infamous Jobs Bank that we’ve talked about here a lot. When I started working at GM in the mid 90’s as an…
The GM “Jobs Bank” has come up many times here before, but now the Wall St. Journal has a front page article (subscription required). The headline: “Detroits Symbol of Dysfunction.” Other accounts have put the number at 12,000, the WSJ…
NPR : Future Uncertain for Auto Workers’ Safety Net I don’t mean to focus so much on this Jobs Bank issue. But, this piece is one of the reasons this blog got such a spike in readership last week. Members…
Lean Manufacturing Blog: GM Jobs bank programs — 12,000 paid not to work I know it’s kind of weird to link to my own post, but I saw the traffic logs and I had HUNDREDS of visits to this page…
Detroit News – 10/17/05 UPDATE 2/9/06: Why the sudden interest in this article?? Email me. This isn’t new news, nor is it a new program, the GM “jobs bank”. When I worked at GM, 1995-96, as a new college graduate,…
