The Homa Files

5 Responses to “Trading in American clunkers … for new Toyota rides”

1. Mike Says:
   August 11, 2009 at 11:06 am | Reply

   It’s great that our cash for clunkers program is putting foreigners to work. There is a lot of euphoria now, but this can’t be good for the Obama administration when these statistics are widely reported.

2. James Says:
   August 11, 2009 at 2:29 pm | Reply

   It is not putting “foreigners” to work. The Camry and Corolla are built right here in the United States by US workers (and the Prius is coming soon). The Civic is built here too btw. If there is any auto maker that has protected is US employment (despite losing $ billions), it’s Toyota.

3. Mike Says:
   August 12, 2009 at 1:53 am | Reply

   That is so awesome of the Japanese to give us the privilege of assembling their vehicles right here in the US of A. The foreigners (BMW, Mercedes, VW, Audi, Honda, Toyota, Nissan etc.) get the majority of the highly compensated white color design jobs, while we get all the blue color jobs assembling their vehicles. Is this what we want for the U.S? They design and we merely assemble cars in their factories?

4. James Says:
   August 12, 2009 at 8:23 am | Reply

   (1) GM’s design is based in Europe. They receive more acclaim for their design than quality.
   (2) 80% of the cars that Honda sells here is built here
   (3) Foreign companies don’t simply just provide blue collar jobs here. They also set up an extensive sales network made up of dealers (who in turn employ people), logistics, suppliers (based in the US), R&D, financial services, AND design. And I can assure you that it takes a large white collar presence here to make this system work.
   (4) Not sure why you degrade blue collar jobs. Toyota line workers are probably some of the most skilled employees in the industry. So you’re forgetting that foreign companies are bringing in technical skills and knowledge tranfser here. Toyota Production Systems (TPS) has revolutionized manufacturing operations for a variety of industry and has even been implemented at hospitals to make them more efficient and save money. Just the other day, the WSJ had a front page article on how Starbucks is starting to adopt TPS in its stores. So maybe there is more value to this “blue collar” thing than you think. Plus, if the blue collar jobs are so bad, why aren’t the foreign automakers unionized? It’s because they are taken care of.
   (5) Finally, a couple of facts to note:

   Bailout dollars distributed:
   GM, Chrysler = $65 billion
   Foreign OEMs = $0

   US Layoffs:
   GM, Chrysler = tens of thousands
   Foreign OEMs = 0

   Tax Revenues (i.e. contribution to the US):
   GM, Chrysler, Ford = not in many years
   Toyota = Yes

5. Mike Says:
   August 12, 2009 at 9:56 pm | Reply

   James,

   My point is the high value IP and the most highly compensated jobs remain in Japan and Europe. I’d rather see Americans in the higher wage positions. I’d rather see Americans designing cars and improving the Toyota Production System instead of assembling cars and following the Toyota Production System.

   While I liked the WSJ article, I also found it a bit amusing. In the old days, they used to call this time and motion studies. Today they draw upon lean concepts for ideas for optimizing the Starbucks drink production system.
   Before the McDonalds brothers built their first McDonalds, they sketched out a full size version of their restaurant on their tennis court with chalk. They simulated how workers would accomplish their tasks before they built their first restaurant in San Bernadino.