GM may be down, but they?re not out by any means

Quality is not something that can changed overnight in large companies. It is a culture to behave in certain ways and large bureaucracy's do not change quickly especially when the middle level managers know nothing about it. This also has to be practiced by the many subcontractors. When Toyota set up shop in the US, they went to their suppliers and taught them about what quality means.

As the saying goes, quality is a journey, not a destination. Too many think you just do a few things and you are done. It is a never ending quest in a manufacturing environment.
 
Bunky said:
Quality is not something that can changed overnight in large companies. It is a culture to behave in certain ways and large bureaucracy's do not change quickly especially when the middle level managers know nothing about it. This also has to be practiced by the many subcontractors. When Toyota set up shop in the US, they went to their suppliers and taught them about what quality means.

As the saying goes, quality is a journey, not a destination. Too many think you just do a few things and you are done. It is a never ending quest in a manufacturing environment.
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I totally agree. I was thaught Quality in the US (Six Sigma and Kaizen) it is indeed a very different mindset, not an overnight 'cure' but definetly the way forward
 
Blackfire said:
For a family of 4 or a rich single man who has no family obligations?

The Corvette won't rescue a bankrupt company. They will have to sell a few million a month to pay down their debts. So, practically thinking, if the company can't make a profit, what good is a Corvette?
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I don't think anyone can expect one model to save GM but the Corvette is a nice model to have. While GM doesn't officially release profit margins per model, word is that the Corvette has the highest margin, even higher than trucks and SUV's. So for a company trying to work its way back to profitabillity, when asking what good is a Corvette, it is very good to have.
 
Bunky said:
As the saying goes, quality is a journey, not a destination. Too many think you just do a few things and you are done. It is a never ending quest in a manufacturing environment.
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Please get out of my head....:tongue: I preach this everyday of my professional life

Six Sigma, Lean Mfg, Kaizen, 5S, are all a way of doing business day in and day out and not a singular event!
 
Deep Gloss said:
Please get out of my head....:tongue: I preach this everyday of my professional life

Six Sigma, Lean Mfg, Kaizen, 5S, are all a way of doing business day in and day out and not a singular event!
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LOL!

Me too! :D

kaizen.jpg
 
True - a lot of companies - mine included have Six Sigma and all the other buzz words and catch phrases but if you don't have employees that give a damn about their work, then you might as well try to teach a pig to read. These hard times are humbling to a lot of people, but, too many still think that they have "rights" to things like jobs, wealth, yeah sure buddy. And I bett you think the guv-ment will look after you from cradle to grave.
 
rockymountaindetail said:
New Vettes may be world class sports cars in performance, but the interiors are not up to par with the rest of the car IMO. I've seen better interiors in cars costing much less.
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"Not up to par" is the understatement of the year.

The corvettes interior is horrible. They always have been, for the most part.

You would think that GM would be able to put together a decent interior for their top of the line sports car. :doh:
 
GM started to fail in the mid 80's, and they never caught themselves until it was too late. The Iron Duke Camaro, that whole back of small cars that was just awful, not replacing outdated engines and transmissions until today, half hearted redesigns, jumping on the SUV/Truck wagon and abandoning good cars (Granted, there were a few hits in there, the Olds Intrigue being one of them). You saw it coming years ago. But to the Corvette's defense, the interior is getting better and better. And look at Cadillac. That's probably their best brand right now. The CTS is on fire right now, taking comparison after comparison. The next gen STS will be just as good. The new Chevy Cruze, to replace the Cobalt, is leap-years ahead of the Cobalt, just as the Cobalt was leap-years ahead of the Crapalier. If they would make the Impala on the G8 chassis, they would have a stellar car there. I see both sides, but I like the underdogs chances here.
 
ziggo99 said:
GM started to fail in the mid 80's....
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You need to go back a few years...in my memory...

Chev Vega and the alum block engine

Chevy Citation (the X cars) - quality was not part of the design. I recall the sideways radio. I owned one of these jewels.

The first Cavaliers were decent small cars. The next gen design went down hill.

I disliked GM interiors until recently. The Buick and Cadillac designs have been much improved. The Chevrolet always seemed to have to be worst by design. They took so many corners to cut costs (like plastic wheel covers, etc). I did not like Ford interiors (dull) but they did not annoy me like GM.
 
People got tired of huge repair bills and many people jumped ship to Japanese cars, they lost alot of customers in the late 80's and nineties. Meanwhile Toyota and Honda were building refined, reliable cars and what did GM do? Nothing... GM caused there own problems. And make no mistake, there was alot of money to be made from parts and repairs and GM went along and did nothing. The Malibu is a nice car, to bad its about 10 years to late. The Cobalt? Yeah, thats really going to sway Honda Civic owners to bye GM.
 
[The Cobalt? Yeah, thats really going to sway Honda Civic owners to bye GM.]

Bye GM pun intended? I do however aggree one model, however good, will not save a company, its been allowed to 'limp' along due to Gov help, not wanting to put up the rate of unemployment and repeat what happened to Detroit
 
I didn't say it was going to sway all Civic owners to GM. I was just pointing out it was far superior to the Cavalier.
 
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