Re: [Amc-list] Trademarks

[adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Sandwich Maker)]

" From: "Swygert, Francis G MSgt 436 CES/CECM" <Francis.Swygert3@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
" 
" " In my mind, we have the engineers and the technology to do the job,
" but
" somewhere the new thinking either isn't being encouraged by management
" or its
" there and isn't being executed on the plant floor. Either way, something
" needs
" to be done soon or we won't be seeing some very big players around much
" longer.
" 
" marketeers and widget managers, and top-down authority.  widget
" managers know business but not necessarily the car business, and
" worse, believe they don't need to know the car business.  to them the
" company's real product is dividends [and their bonuses] and however
" dividends are produced is incidental.  eg. manage the money and the
" rest will follow...
" -----------------------------
" 
" When GM introduced the Chevy Sprint to replace the Chevette as their low
" price leader, it was the beginning of the end for GM. I think it was the
" president of GM at the time that said ".. we're in business to make
" money, not cars, we just happen to make money by making cars. If we can
" buy them to sell cheaper than we can make them, we will.." Well, that's
" more or less the quote. 

the path of lucent.

remember at&t, the phone company?  they spun off the monopoly business
as the rbocs and stayed in the competitive business, then spun off
their manufacturing arm [the former western electric] as lucent
technologies.  well, someone decided to convert lucent to an 'all
service' business model and closed all their plants - including one
near me that used to employ 10000 and grossed $1b/y, cratering the
local economy - and shed about 2/3 of their employees.

now lucent - what's left of it - is owned by alcatel.  i guess service
wasn't worth much without product...

[carly fiorina, much hated for the way she took hp apart, previously
worked for at&t and/or lucent, and i vaguely and possibly inaccurately
remember this as her handiwork]

" Car guys don't necessarily make the best managers, but they make one
" heck of a product! There needs to be a balance, but GM is big enough
" that they can make at least one cutting edge/risky model every couple
" years. Maybe bounce it around the divisions so one doesn't take a big
" hit like Caddy did with the V-4-6-8 way back when. It's a risk that you
" have to take, but things do need adequate development time! 

i firmly believe that to effectively manage a business you have to
know what that business does and who its market is, not just money.
how else are you going to know what's a reasonable investment and what
isn't?  on a strictly money basis, 'halo' cars like the corvette and
viper are total wastes - but the whole company benefits from their
appeal and their engineering.



" From: Keleigh Hardie <keleigh3000@xxxxxxxxx>
" 
" I agree with you for the most part. But, I had a Sprint. I bought it 
" because it was built by Suzuki, not in spite of it. At that time in the 
" []
" so much as burned out a light bulb. It was a much better car than the 
" Chevette. It's just too bad they couldn't make them here (well, they 
" could, but we won't go into that).

gm couldn't, but suzuki could.  see what toyota has done in the former
gm fremont plant when they took it over and converted it to making
corollas - some with nova badges.  i'll bet gm bailed 'cause they made
the rest of gm's line look bad!



" From: Wrambler242@xxxxxxxxxxx
" 
" They keep building big gas guzzling SUV's and rebates till they clog
" the market, raising prices till the consumer is so over financed they
" can't buy again. Then panic when sales drop. Who suffers? the buyers
" with their over financed cars and the workers still building more to
" park on the lots. sooner or later it had to give.

gm is famous for their ivory tower mgmt.  they probably still think
they can -market- their way out of this.  remember electronic data
systems and ross perot?  they paid him big to go away when he started
spouting inconvenient truths.

ford - still controlled by the ford family - doesn't seem to be much
better.

" Design? I'm a keep it simple kind of guy. Honda Element [except for
" the 4 bucket seat stupidity] Or Scion XB!!!...

you can't get the original xb new anymore.  the replacement - just out
- is longer, lower, wider, and almost twice as powerful... more the
class of the element.  i'm amazed at toyota but they must have their
reasons - they were selling all the xbs they could make, without much
advertising, and making all the xbs their production lines could; by
anyone's account a runaway success.  why change it?  the new xb
carries nothing but the badge forward.

" --
" Mark Price



" From: Don Johnson <donjohnson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
" 
" Development and refinement time seem to be luxuries at the big 3.

it's that total quality mgmt thing again.  they don't believe that
managers should listen to employees who have insight into the
production process they work at every day, they don't seem to have a
handle on non-warrantee customer failure analysis, and that's the way
they've always done things why change now?

" Kill front wheel drive. It isn't better, it's just cheaper to build.

i disagree.  with all those moving parts steering and driving [and in
a small car tightly packed in] it can't be cheaper, and in snow
country fwd -is- better without question.  you also in a small car get
more interior room and trunk space.

for a performance vehicle, you're right.  there's a reason there are
no fwd race cars.
________________________________________________________________________
Andrew Hay                                  the genius nature
internet rambler                            is to see what all have seen
adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                       and think what none thought
_______________________________________________
Amc-list mailing list
Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.amc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/amc-list