Lean and Mean or Skinny and Pissed?

[MikeB]

It seems the state of the US auto industry (GM, Ford, and the US part of DCX) is now "competitive" with the Toyota and Honda's in terms of productivity. While you can always cut costs, doesn't the focus for these companies need to shift towards better and faster product design? I believe the continued focus on cutting, cutting, and more cutting has taken them past Lean & Mean - people in the plants and now "Skinny & Pissed." Is it time to take the Lean focus off the plant floor?

[cutiger95]

In all honesty it is long overdue to remove the "Lean" idea from the plant floor and the supplier base. Everyone wants to chase Toyota and they think that Lean is the way to go to achieve the TPS zen point.

TPS (Toyota Production System) is more than measuring a few metrics such as inventory, cycle times, etc. It is an overall driving lifestyle that has to be integrated into your corporation. Your Janitor has to think about improving, they guy that mows the lawn needs to be thinking about it.

The US auto industry has missed the mark and the lone remaining hope is now Chrysler, who would have thought we would say that ever.

[mricard]

Intersting points. I would sbumit that where the US auto manufacturers still fall short is in value stream focus. They routinely sub optimize in one area, at the expense of the whole. The over zealous pursuit of "low-cost" country manufacturing is a classic example.

I understand there are no fewer vehicle assembly plants in the US today than, say, 15 years ago-they are just owned by different companies. Why is that?

[ewilliams]

There is much to agree with in these posts. Certainly good new product with high customer appeal is far more important than nickel-&-dime cost cutting. I doubt any corporation can "shrink its way to prosperity." The indictment of local (versus global) optimization is also accurate.