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Ford vs Toyota

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River Both teams practised 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 7 people steering and 2 people rowing.

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 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, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people 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 rowers. 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 rower, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled 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 rower 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: 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. These are located in the American South, where workers in general are quite hostile towards unions. These workers have consistently voted against the UAW in govt-supervised secret ballot unionization elections. 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, and collecting bonuses.
 

loomixguy

Well-known member
Sorry, but no rice burner will deliver LOOMIX for me as good as my F550. Real trucks don't have spark plugs.

How many concessions did NASCAR have to make so the Yota's could be competitive with Chevy and Ford on the track?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Car Bailout Pits North vs. South

A striking pattern has emerged in the fight over bailing out the big three automobile companies. Senators from the north are for it and senators from the south are against it. Why? It turns out there are assembly plants in both the North and the South. The ones in the North are owned by American companies and are highly unionized; the ones in the South are owned by foreign (mostly Japanese) companies and are not unionized. Hourly pay in northern and southern ones is comparable but benefits are much better in the North. Southern senators who oppose the bailout don't really object to the government interfering with private industry and don't really even mind a government-appointed car czar running the companies. The sticking point is that they want to break the unions and force union members to take cuts in pay and benefits to bring them down to the level that the workers in the South get. In this way, workers will see that unionization has no value and won't be inclined to join unions in the South, which will greatly please the foreign auto companies and keep them firmly attached to the South. So what may look at first like a noble principle (keep the government's nose out of the private sector), is really a parochial interest (keep unions out of plants in their states so foreign companies will continue to invest there). Some observers say that in the deep South, there is not much difference between union and Union Army.

Republicans from the North think differently. Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), for example, supports the bailout because there are many unionized big three auto plants in Ohio. He says Republicans from the South are using the bailout as a weapon to break the unions (which strongly support the Democrats). Chris Bowers points out that 18 of the senators who opposed the $14 billion bailout of the big three automobile companies voted for the $700 billion bailout of the banks. In other words, they have no ideological problem with the government interfering with private industry. Their problem is that the proposed bailout didn't break the power of the United Auto Workers. If that had been included, another $14 billion on top of the $700 billion they already voted for would not have been a dealbreaker.
http://www.electoral-vote.com/
 

TexasBred

Well-known member
loomixguy said:
Sorry, but no rice burner will deliver LOOMIX for me as good as my F550. Real trucks don't have spark plugs.

How many concessions did NASCAR have to make so the Yota's could be competitive with Chevy and Ford on the track?

Actually they literally had to put restrictors on those Toyotas co the American cars could keep up. Same for the trucks in the truck series.

Why does it take an F550 to pull your LOOMIX..how big is that trailer?
 

MO STOCKER

Well-known member
In 2005 we bought a new Dodge 1 ton 4wd. Made in Mexico. The same year we bought a Toyota Camry made in America. Which one put money in the pocket of American workers? Which one is asking for a taxpayer handout?
 

Ben H

Well-known member
Here's something that came up with a buddy of mine a while ago. He is a machinist here in Maine. I mentioned that what's the point of staying loyal to the big three when the other cars are made here in the US by americans, who cares who the company is owned by and the corporate profits. What he said caught my attention and I haven't been able to verify it. He said that the forgein companies only have assembly jobs here, it's the lower skilled, lower wage jobs that are here with the forgein automakers, the higher paid, more technical jobs are over seas.
 

loomixguy

Well-known member
TexasBred said:
loomixguy said:
Sorry, but no rice burner will deliver LOOMIX for me as good as my F550. Real trucks don't have spark plugs.

How many concessions did NASCAR have to make so the Yota's could be competitive with Chevy and Ford on the track?

Actually they literally had to put restrictors on those Toyotas co the American cars could keep up. Same for the trucks in the truck series.

Why does it take an F550 to pull your LOOMIX..how big is that trailer?

I carry well over 4 tons of product, tanks, skids, and gear on the bed. Trailering wouldn't work around here, going from lots to pastures to corn and milo fields. I wore a one ton Chevy out doing it.....I reckon an F550 will last as long as I do. The local Fire Department modeled their "Quick Attack" unit after my rig. They use an F550, but their single tank is stainless steel. I have 3 tanks on my truck.
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Here's something that came up with a buddy of mine a while ago. He is a machinist here in Maine. I mentioned that what's the point of staying loyal to the big three when the other cars are made here in the US by americans, who cares who the company is owned by and the corporate profits. What he said caught my attention and I haven't been able to verify it. He said that the forgein companies only have assembly jobs here, it's the lower skilled, lower wage jobs that are here with the forgein automakers, the higher paid, more technical jobs are over seas.

Those lower wage jobs, are higher paid than most jobs in North America!
 

TexasBred

Well-known member
Loomix I was just curious. I see one tons 4wd around here pulling 1000 gallon tanks of different brands of liquid feeds on gooseneck rigs. They seem to do ok. Most use the Dodge with the cummins engine.
 

TexasBred

Well-known member
hypocritexposer said:
Here's something that came up with a buddy of mine a while ago. He is a machinist here in Maine. I mentioned that what's the point of staying loyal to the big three when the other cars are made here in the US by americans, who cares who the company is owned by and the corporate profits. What he said caught my attention and I haven't been able to verify it. He said that the forgein companies only have assembly jobs here, it's the lower skilled, lower wage jobs that are here with the forgein automakers, the higher paid, more technical jobs are over seas.

Those lower wage jobs, are higher paid than most jobs in North America!

A jobs a job...you know the salary before you sign on. Seems folks are beating the doors down to get jobs at those Toyota plants too.
 
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