# A Modern Parable



## GlenninTexas (Aug 11, 2004)

>> A Modern Parable.
>> 
>> A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford Motors)
>> decided
>> to have a canoe race on the Missouri River.
>> Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak 
>> performance before
>> the race.
>> On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.
>> The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to 
>> investigate the
>> reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior
>> management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate 
>> action.
>> Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person
>> steering, while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 
>> people rowing.
>> Feeling a deeper study was in order; American management hired a
>> consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second
>> opinion.
>> They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the 
>> boat,
>> while not enough people were rowing.
>> Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent
>> another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management 
>> structure was
>> totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering
>> superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.
>> They also implemented a new performance system that would give 
>> the 2
>> people rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was 
>> called the
>> 'Rowing Team Quality First Program, with meetings, dinners and free 
>> pens for
>> the rowers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes 
>> and other
>> equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The pension
>> program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the 
>> resultant
>> savings were channeled into morale boosting programs and teamwork 
>> posters.
>>
>> The next year the Japanese won by two miles.
>>
>> Humiliated, the American management laid-off one rower, halted
>> development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled all 
>> capital
>> investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to 
>> the
>> Senior Executives as bonuses.
>> The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was 
>> unable to
>> even finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for
>> unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next 
>> year's
>> racing team was out-sourced to India.
>> Sadly, the End.
>> 
>> Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last 
>> thirty
>> years moving all its factories out of the US , claiming they can't 
>> make
>> money paying American wages.
>> 
>> TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen 
>> plants
>> inside the US
>>
>> The last quarter's results:
>> 
>> TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in
>> losses.
>> 
>> Ford folks are still scratching their heads, and collecting 
>> bonuses...
>> 
>> IF THIS WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

Yup. That about sums it up.


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## rdvholtwood (Sep 18, 2008)

battalionchief3 said:


> Yup. That about sums it up.


X2


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## campfirenut (Aug 9, 2006)

Go Toyota

Bob


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

Boy how anti American it that


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## campfirenut (Aug 9, 2006)

N7OQ said:


> Boy how anti American it that


My Toyota is American made by Americans.................................................


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Ok, as for the joke, it's too sad to be funny.









Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, etc do assemble cars over here. The money returns home though. Ford only supplies US vehicles from within the NAFTA countries (complain to congress if you don't like that) and most are designed AND built in the USA.

And no, no bonuses for anyone in the automotive industry this year.... Toyota included...


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## 3LEES (Feb 18, 2006)

campfirenut said:


> Boy how anti American it that


My Toyota is American made by Americans.................................................
[/quote]
Your Toyota is "assembled" in America with 96% foreign parts. The net profit for the sales is returned to Japan where it is taxed and used to fund Japanese infrasucture.

Even those factories that _Congress_ (NAFTA) allowed Detroit to move to another country use 87% AMERICAN BUILT parts. And the profits made from Detroit based auto companies are returned to the USA.

Granted, the Japanese vehicles are very well made. Granted, the Detroit automakers chose greed over versatility and allowed the Japanese car makers to gain a firm foothold in the market. However, I personally will not buy a Japanese made vehicle.

The Japanese gov't does not play fair when it comes to free trade. They heavily tax our goods we export to them with the intention of protecting their markets (rice, beef, etc.) but GREATLY protest if our gov't does the same with their vehicle imports. And they have used a business practice called "dumping" to gain market dominance in the electronics industry.

For years the Japanese gov't heavily subsidised their electronics business so they could export goods to our country and sell them at a price MUCH BELOW any of our American electronics goods. Now they have basically cornered the market on electronics. When is the last time you saw a Magonvox, RCA, or Sylvania (all American companies) television?

It is time for the American public to stand behind their home grown companies. Our American workers are amoung the most productive in the world and deserve the support of their fellow countrymen.

Dan


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## Path4ground (Sep 14, 2008)

Sorry to say, Toyota's are not made in the USA, they are assembled here from parts made elsewhere. I also have had many American autos in my life, as they have improved considerably from the 80's and 90's, but as a previous union member that worked in the automotive sector, I saw those types of management trees and methods. There were also similar types of thinking done at the union level, which contributed to the chaos. Now 10 years later and in another type of field, I still see many of the same methods of thinking in business in general today. Layers of insulation between the average worker and management, oversight committees overseeing other oversight committees; meetings accounting for 70% of work time; no wonder nothing is getting done!
I love America and the potential that we have in the global market, but if business and labors way of thinking (including judicial) doesn't change soon, we will no longer be a contributing nation in the world. That frightens me, for my children's sake!!
However, Just to add another comment, we own a Toyota Prius and the Chevy Silverado (yep, I like extremes). The Prius is great on gas, but does not have the high end comfort with a solid feel, as my American pickup has. In fact, I have not experienced any oversees automobile, that had the comfort or solid feel as the American counterparts. With that said, American automobiles have competitive features that other manufacturers don't have; so I have come full circle to hoping to see a change of business thinking. Just my thoughts.


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## Collinsfam_WY (Nov 9, 2006)

Couldn't be prouder than to own my new 2008 SuperDuty assembled at Kentucky Truck Plant by the men and women of UAW 862. Tough time to be in the auto industry and point well made Glenn!

-CC


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## GlenninTexas (Aug 11, 2004)

N7OQ said:


> Boy how anti American it that


Hey, I didn't intend to start a war here- I own American autos. Always have and always will.

The point of all this is that the auto companies - wait most U.S. businesses - need to look at their business practices. There is so much overhead and waste it isn't funny.
As far as the auto industry, look back at what happened to the steel industry in the U.S. a few decades ago. After WW2 the U.S. built Japan's steelindustry back upusing the newest technology while U.S. industry continued on with early 1900 technology. The Japanese were able to produce steel more efficiently at a lower cost. The U.S. steel industry finally collapsed and was rebuilt using even better technology than the Japanese and now are back in the drivers seat. 
The U.S. auto companies need todo the same thing. Look at any news report showing film of a U.S. assembly line. You'll see some machine lifting a part, say a dashboard, but you'll also see that it takes a human to manuver the dashboard into the correct position. In a Japanese companies plant, a robot wil do that without the need for the human.
Now before anyone thinks I'm picking on the U.S. union labor, I'm not. Reports I've heard indicate that the union labor portion of the total operating expense is about 10%. This indicates to me that there is a whole lot more room to cut expenses and belome competitive than just union labor. Here's a start, the CEO of Toyota makes a total of $3 million a year. What do the U.S. counterparts make in total compensation? They've agreed to take $1/yr in salary, but haven't said anything about the bonuses, stock options and host of other goodies totaling millions.


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## rdvholtwood (Sep 18, 2008)

GlenninTexas said:


> Boy how anti American it that


Hey, I didn't intend to start a war here- I own American autos. Always have and always will.

The point of all this is that the auto companies - wait most U.S. businesses - need to look at their business practices. There is so much overhead and waste it isn't funny.
As far as the auto industry, look back at what happened to the steel industry in the U.S. a few decades ago. After WW2 the U.S. built Japan's steelindustry back upusing the newest technology while U.S. industry continued on with early 1900 technology. The Japanese were able to produce steel more efficiently at a lower cost. The U.S. steel industry finally collapsed and was rebuilt using even better technology than the Japanese and now are back in the drivers seat. 
The U.S. auto companies need todo the same thing. Look at any news report showing film of a U.S. assembly line. You'll see some machine lifting a part, say a dashboard, but you'll also see that it takes a human to manuver the dashboard into the correct position. In a Japanese companies plant, a robot wil do that without the need for the human.
Now before anyone thinks I'm picking on the U.S. union labor, I'm not. Reports I've heard indicate that the union labor portion of the total operating expense is about 10%. This indicates to me that there is a whole lot more room to cut expenses and belome competitive than just union labor. Here's a start, the CEO of Toyota makes a total of $3 million a year. What do the U.S. counterparts make in total compensation? They've agreed to take $1/yr in salary, but haven't said anything about the bonuses, stock options and host of other goodies totaling millions.

[/quote]

Agree - we need to understand how we can better our business practices.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

GlenninTexas said:


> Boy how anti American it that


Hey, I didn't intend to start a war here- I own American autos. Always have and always will.

The point of all this is that the auto companies - wait most U.S. businesses - need to look at their business practices. There is so much overhead and waste it isn't funny.
As far as the auto industry, look back at what happened to the steel industry in the U.S. a few decades ago. After WW2 the U.S. built Japan's steelindustry back upusing the newest technology while U.S. industry continued on with early 1900 technology. The Japanese were able to produce steel more efficiently at a lower cost. The U.S. steel industry finally collapsed and was rebuilt using even better technology than the Japanese and now are back in the drivers seat. 
The U.S. auto companies need todo the same thing. Look at any news report showing film of a U.S. assembly line. You'll see some machine lifting a part, say a dashboard, but you'll also see that it takes a human to manuver the dashboard into the correct position. In a Japanese companies plant, a robot wil do that without the need for the human.
Now before anyone thinks I'm picking on the U.S. union labor, I'm not. Reports I've heard indicate that the union labor portion of the total operating expense is about 10%. This indicates to me that there is a whole lot more room to cut expenses and belome competitive than just union labor. Here's a start, the CEO of Toyota makes a total of $3 million a year. What do the U.S. counterparts make in total compensation? They've agreed to take $1/yr in salary, but haven't said anything about the bonuses, stock options and host of other goodies totaling millions.
[/quote]
Agree 100% with you Glen! There's way too much truth in that joke!


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