Well the barbies worked very nicely, washed 'em down with a bottle of 2 buck chuck merlot, worth every penny indeed, I'm fresh out of single malt.
I feel the US auto industry is capable of much more than what makes the production line. It simply suffers from poor leadership vision.
As an example, a few days ago I finished an SMD package design that allowed a lead (pronounced leed, silly bastards the english whose language we derived ours form) to be located at each corner of the device, that's a good thing since there are four corners and having a lead at each one promotes stability during the various pick and place routines encountered up to the time the solder paste is reflowed. This will also be available as an eight lead device, four along each side of the package, also a model of stability.
Not being the average fool, I envisioned the difficulty selling the need for a separate lead frame for the four lead in addition to the eight lead. The alternative is to use the same lead frame for both and trim away the unwanted leads. But this means one set of leads is at one corner and the other set along the sides a little more than halfway.
It makes for an ugly package just barely on the verge of instability. You know which one they chose to produce. It saved $8500 in tooling cost, a mere pittance in the big picture.
I failed to convince the V.P.'s the right direction to go in. Shame on me. I must do some work on my selling ability. Bigger shame on them for not knowing which way to go in the first place. I believe this is what happens to the US auto industry.
I have frequented establishments with salaried employees of Generous Motors and with their rent-a-pencil counterparts and believe me, we have solved the problems of the world. I have met few dummies in either camp. So why doesn't all that talent filter along to the production line. You tell me. My fear is that it's myopic management unable to offer dividends today and innovative products tomorrow because they have whiteled the staff down to 'Russian Army' level. Whenever I'm in the company of V.P's, and P's too for that matter, I usually have the feeling they are hoping to hang on a few more years 'til retirement.
I am completely convinced that Americans can lead (pronounced leed) in whatever field they so desire, heck, I consider myself American, we are just becoming so 'today's bottom line' oriented that it is smothering our future ability.
Answer me this, if your children, born today, were to follow in your exact footsteps, would they be able to enjoy the exact same lifestyle you did when they reach your current age? I've been researching this in my spare time and guess what? It's not recent news the steel mills have closed because of piss poor management, lack of government subsidies and foreign dumping.
We can't win by competing, we win by leading. What are we leading in? Certainly not automobiles, we're not even competing. No, the US auto industry cannot survive if it steers the same course. There are hard times ahead for US autoworkers. That was your question wasn't it Bob?
Ah, the power of alcohol.
All the best, this is all in jest,
Martin