  Gaz Member Username: Gaz Post Number: 232 Registered: 04-2008 |
This is an amazing video. Ford claims it would love to build a plant like this in Detroit, but the UAW will NOT allow it. http://info.detroitnews.com/vi deo/index.cfm?id=1189 | ||
Gaz Member Username: Gaz Post Number: 233 Registered: 04-2008 |
I tried twice but could not get video to become one word. It keeps spelling vi deo. | ||
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision Post Number: 843 Registered: 11-2003 |
The link doesn't work - it's not adding the space, either. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 4325 Registered: 06-2004 |
http://info.detnews.com/video/ index.cfm?id=1189 Have you ever heard of the slums at Rio? Do you want similar ones in the US? The idea of constant job cutting and its effects really need to be given serious thought at a national level. (Message edited by lilpup on May 20, 2008) | ||
Viziondetroit Member Username: Viziondetroit Post Number: 1706 Registered: 11-2003 |
Now that is a lean operation. It's a two sided coin... it's lean, flows well and cuts costs big time. But if you do that then you have a spiral of more unemployed workers etc. But it seems as though if automakers can't find ways to keep costs down, workers will be unemployed anyway. Being able to produce 5 models etc is something Honda and Toyota have been doing for years as the demand for a particular model changes in a given area or when a plant needs to be upgraded. I was impressed that the suppliers are in the same factory as the assembly line, another great cost cutting measure on both ends. The one thing I didn't hear was any mention of the workers being paid pennies, which is a good thing! UAW is great is some regards but stifles progress in others. | ||
Gaz Member Username: Gaz Post Number: 235 Registered: 04-2008 |
Thank you for fixing the link! I would like to see Detroit have more factories, but only if it betters the city and its' citizens. | ||
Vivadetroit Member Username: Vivadetroit Post Number: 20 Registered: 04-2008 |
this car factory isn't taking jobs away from Americans. The demand for cars in S. America is huge and the import tax rates in Brazil are out of this world. It is more cost-effective for Ford to build a plant there - this is actually the 2nd Ford plant in Bahia. Add the freight costs to get the cars from the US to Brazil and Ford would be losing money. Unlike the US where the car market is saturated, Brazil is a fresh market. When I lived there 13 yrs ago, none of my friends, who are Brazilian, had cars. Now, they all have 1 or 2 cars, depending on the family. Brazil has 180 million citizens, so that's a lot of cars to be sold. Especially when they're replacing older cars due to an improved economy. Back in the day, no one had the money or credit to buy a new car, so you kept fixing the old one. Now, credit is available to almost everyone and people are rushing to buy cars. S. America is the only place where GM and Ford are actually making a profit, so this is a good thing for the Big 2. (they don't have Chrysler down there). | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 4327 Registered: 06-2004 |
That's not the issue, Vivadetroit. When factories work without many people there aren't enough jobs for many people to be able to afford what the factory builds. | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 1838 Registered: 02-2006 |
My grandfather was an engineer for various members of the Big 3 and their suppliers. He was CONSTANTLY in Brazil in the 70s and early 80s. I suppose he was helping to lay this groundwork. | ||
Gaz Member Username: Gaz Post Number: 239 Registered: 04-2008 |
We now live in a global economy, like it or not. It looks to me as if this is the auto factory of the future. Although I am not comfortable with this, I am afraid that since the technology is here and it works, if you want auto factories in Detroit, this is going to be it. Maybe there is a happy medium somewhere I am not aware of. | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1397 Registered: 11-2003 |
IIRC, GM is able to produce 5 models simultaneously, if it wants to, at the Delta Twp. plant near Lansing. I tried to find a source for this but couldn't, but can swear I read it somewhere. | ||
Track75 Member Username: Track75 Post Number: 2710 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote:Perhaps in the very short run, when lay-offs occur, but in the long-term a more productive factory frees up labor to do other things demanded by the economy. There was a time in our history when 75% of workers were involved in producing food. As farms became more productive it freed up workers to begin the industrial revolution. Americans' standard of living soared as a result. Now we have less than 2% of the country's workers producing food but we produce so much that we're a big food exporter. If we'd bemoaned the loss of agriculture jobs back then we'd be a country of 10 acre farms with families just producing enough to get by, 1800's style. Making a factory hang on to unneeded workers is a formula for economic failure. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 4330 Registered: 06-2004 |
The industrial revolution didn't start in the US and it started well before America's standard of living rose. That standard of living is now in decline and shows no signs of changing direction soon. |
