Mulally sheds more light on Toyota visit - Autoblog The new CEO of ford is a very honest man. I doubt the ford share holders are happy to read this,But I really enjoyed it..

if i owned ford stock i would be excited. Someone is in charge that cares to attempt to learn how to make the business work.

Ford and to a greater extent GM have sat back and hoped the market would be manipulated into buying their products for too long. Actually since the beginning. Well almost the beginning for Ford. They at least tried to start up an electric car program back in the 1910's. GM has pretty consistently manipulated the market and destroyed alternatives to help them stay competitive. And I am not talking about the Impact or EV1. They destroyed mass transit in the US. They were prosecuted and convicted of conspiracy of such.

to get someone in charge of one of these companies that cares about learning how to make a good car rather than lobby or conspire to make the crappy products they have appear better is a god send. Now I guess we have to wait and see what the guy does.

A bunch of us just got back from a tour of the Toyota plant in Kentucky and it is awesome not just from the technology but the team effort between employees, engineering and management. The best way to avoid union problems is to treat employees as something other than cogs in the machine and Toyota demonstrates this day-after-day. It also pays off in lower costs, better products and an honest, responsible environmentally sound plant.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

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My other 1500 cc car:

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Actually, I bet the share holders are happy to read this. For once, an american car manufacturer is not keeping their head in the sand and trying to figure out why they are being left in the dust, or even worse, thinking they are so far in the lead that they can't see their competitors.

Toyota took Ford's assembly line and worked it into a masterpiece of engineering and logistics. They then took the labor side and found ways to increase the worker's satisfaction while at the same time increasing the production. Now it is the workers that help to increase production while increasing worker comfort and satisfaction. toyota has made the whole process into a truely team aspect, and that is what the auto manufacturers are missing. Right now, the unions have cause so much excess cost while decreasing production, they only way the american manufacturers can compete is to cut the unions loose.

The toyota plants are a prime example of how you don't need a union to keep the worker's helath, safety, welfare, finances, etc... as a first priority.

You seem to be anti-union. I recommend becoming a student of history on that one and researching what working was like in the US before the labor movement. Many people died to give you working rights that most people now take for granted, like sick days, the 40 hour work week, and weekends. Then again, many people not working a union job aren't really getting those now are they??

I absoutely would not say that companies cannot do the right thing without unions, however the tendency is for them to NOT do the right thing over the long haul. Unions are not the problem for Ford, GM, or whatever other company you want to cite.

I work with one of the last good unions in the United States for a profitable company and have little to complain about.

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If that comment was aimed at me, then yes I don't like the unions of today. Do I feel they are a necessity, yes. The unions of today are so full of corruption and graft that they have forgotten what they originally stood for. The unions of today, could stop the immigration problems that are facing our country if they would stop worring about how to line their pockets and learn to protect the workers. When I see a person sitting around for 7 hours so he can work 1 hour with the excuse of "I can't do that it is not in my job description" then yes, I have a bunch of contempt for the unions. I am all for worker's rights, but not when it causes the jobs go overseas due to reduculous rules and regulations set in place by the corrupt union leaders.

When unions actually start protecting the workers again, I will support them. BTW, this is coming from a non-union managament worker.

Ok, understood.

I suppose part of my point is that one should not let whether a shop is union or not influence their decision to buy. Good unions will have good workers and produce a good product. Obviously the opposite applies as well.

If Toyota can provide equal or better pay, benefits, and product as a result of their operation, then they've got the formula for good business right.

You are probably right to assume that the UAW or other unions stand in the way of some things being done efficiently or well, however most US automakers have a well documented history of abusing workers. Let's just hope that Ford or GM never buy a controlling stake in Toyota.

LiberalImage.com

I would expect Toyota to buy Ford first.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

Ironic, since Ford taught Toyota the assembly line process. Oh, how the tables have turned.

The smart one would win at the end of it all ....