A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (General 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 paddling and 1 person steering, while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people paddling.

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 paddling.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the paddling 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 paddling the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program, with meetings, dinners and free pens for the paddlers. 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 paddler, halted development of a new canoe , sold all the paddles, and cancelled 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 paddler 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: GM 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 GM rack s up 9 billion in losses.

GM folks are still scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses....IF THIS WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY.

X2!

You forgot the issue of where Toyota locates plants in the USA, and union vs non union. Not saying that GM management isn’t an issue, but there’s a lot more to the story.

Reminds me of the story about designing the space station. A joint commitee of American and Russian engineers were discussing the flammability of a sample of material that was before them. The American engineers proposed a series of tests that would cost about $200,000. One of the Russians took the sample into the bathroom. He held the material over the sink and held a lit match to it. He came out of the bathroom and said "it burns"

Dave

Just like the Americans in the space program spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to develop a pen that would write in zero gravity. The russians just used a pencil.

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The russians just used a pencil.

But that's not the good ole American govt. way.
The more money you piss off, the more you can request on your next budget.

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The more money you piss off, the more you can request on your next budget.

Unfortunately, that is just exactly why our government and its budget is in the shape it is!

My wife worked for the Social Security Administration for 26 years and like all Federal Agencies the creed is, "Always Ask For More $$$ In The Agencies Budget"!

NEVER show proof that the same volume or level of work can be done for less funding and the odd part is, if an agency can or does show that they were able to attain their goals with less $$$$, their budget will be cut!



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Originally posted by df06:
You forgot the issue of where Toyota locates plants in the USA, and union vs non union. Not saying that GM management isn’t an issue, but there’s a lot more to the story.

The Fremont plant story might provide a little light entertainment. Tesla now operates there, and maybe Toyota?

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NEVER show proof that the same volume or level of work can be done for less funding and the odd part is, if an agency can or does show that they were able to attain their goals with less $$$$, their budget will be cut!

Back in the 80's I worked for a bread company that got a new contract delivering bread products to the mess halls on a military base.
We received the list of all products needed by each mess hall & ordered accordingly.
When we backed up to the 1st mess hall & started rolling off all the racks of bread ordered the mess Sargent came out & told us that he didn't want the delivery. We reminded him that he ordered it, then he said that he would sign our invoice just didn't want the products.
When ask to explain, he stated that the troops were out in the field for the next 2 weeks & didn't need it.
Then he explained that he had to spend his budget for the month or they would cut his budget the next month when the troops were back on base & he needed it.
The same thing happened at every mess hall on base for the next 2 weeks.
If that was happening to the bread man, it had to be happening to all suppliers as well.

That reminds me of the story of the potato peeler. You remember them from your youth;a peeler w/ a wooden red painted handle. Anyway,the government took the contract + although they made a superior product,they were going broke. So they hired this hot shot Madison Avenue kid to save their company.Here's what happened;for 10K he gave his advice. Quit painting the handle red,leave it brown wood. Some PFC peeling a of sea potatoes will set the peeler down at some point + when the red handle is not evident,he just goes + gets another. And that saved the company.Neat,huh?