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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
rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people
steering and 1 person rowing.
Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a
consulting company and paid them a l arge amount of money for a second
opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering
the boat, while not enough people were rowing.
Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to
prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management
structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area
steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering
manager. They also implemented a new performance system that would
give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It
was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings,
dinners and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting
new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for
practices and bonuses.
The next year the Japanese won by two miles.
Humiliat ed, the American management laid off the rower for poor
performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and
canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved
was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's
racing team was out-sourced to India .
Sadly, the End.
Sad, but oh so true! Here's something else to think about:
Ford 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 Ford racked up 9 billion in
losses.
>Ford folks are still scratching their heads.
_________________
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Dogg
http://www.stevemorrisengines.com
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