Word: detroiter
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...transplants have spent decades refining "flexible assembly," a process that Detroit hasn't practiced as well. Flexibility means being able to make several types of vehicles on one assembly line, which can cut investment 25% for a new model and allow for efficiently altering the model mix based on changes in demand. At Toyota's operation in Princeton, Ind., a single line cranks out the full-size Sequoia SUV and Sienna minivan. What's novel: the Sequoia is built on a frame, while the Sienna, as a "unibody" vehicle, isn't. Toyota's line is the first in North America...
Contrary to popular belief, workers' wages and benefits at the transplant factories--none of which are unionized except for joint ventures with Detroit--are comparable to those at factories organized by the United Auto Workers (UAW). Assembly-line workers, regardless of their location, earn about $45,000 to $100,000 a year (depending on experience and overtime). Bonuses are typically tied to profitability, and health-care and pension benefits vary only slightly...
...next round of national labor negotiations this summer, the Big Three are expected to demand benefit cuts and broader job classifications. Griping has already begun. "They want us to do more and more and offer us less and less," says Bill Parker, president of UAW Local 1700 in Detroit and head of a Chrysler work force. In theory, Detroit could emulate the transplants and set up nonunionized shops in the South, but the UAW would probably bring assembly operations to a halt...
...been more willing to invest in equipment to manufacture new technologies--such as hybrid electric-gasoline engines--out of confidence that Japanese automakers won't abandon them, or the technology, before they can recoup costs. The Big Three now want to outsource more R. and D. to suppliers, but Detroit has made low cost a priority, tending to negotiate short-term deals and drop contracts with partsmakers if a better offer emerges--resulting, sometimes, in mutual acrimony...
...Detroit is progressing in its competition with the transplants. In terms of initial quality, its vehicles now match those produced by European transplants. GM scores close to the industry average, and Chrysler's new models show improvement over the vehicles they replaced, according to the latest survey by J.D. Power and Associates. GM, the Big Three's lowest-cost producer in terms of materials, is ahead of Chrysler and Ford in standardizing platforms across models, which reduces development costs. The influence of its North American chairman and product guru, former Chrysler and Ford executive Robert Lutz, 71, is emerging: Cadillacs...