"Boater" wrote in message
...
Eisboch wrote:
"Boater" wrote in message
...
The quality issues have nothing to do with the workers who build the
car, and everything to do with corporate management.


That's right. I forgot. The union workers are paid to stay home while
Rick Wagoner personally bolts the cars together.

Eisboch


Unless things have changed drastically since I last visited an autoplant,
virtually every decision on who does what with what and for how long is
determined by management. Design is determined by management. Tools are
decided by management. Training is decided by management. Materials are
decided by management. Assembly line speed is decided by management.


And a major portion of the assembly is done by robots.
And here we have the root of the problem.

Back in the late 70's and early 80's as Nissan, Toyota and Honda started
chipping away at Detroit's market share, the Japanese cars were being built
on new, modern, automated assembly lines. They didn't have unions to get
****ed off about it.

Detroit, not to be left behind, started automating their lines as well,
developing robotic systems to do the work of people. I remember this well,
because industrial programmable logic controllers (PLC), built by Texas
Instruments, were initially prohibited by the UAW contracts because the
description of the PLC included the words "microprocessor" and "computer".
The UAW contract prohibited line workers from being replaced by a
"computer". So, the plan was withdrawn for a while, then re-introduced and
the logic controller was called a "PLC".

But anyway, that's when the downfall started. Automation was resisted and
contract negotiations became very adversarial over the years. Ridiculous
contract clauses were agreed to, because sales were still good, money was
being made and management was focused on trying to avoid the numerous
strikes that occurred anyway.

Remember?

Eisboch