We seem to lack the ability to do whatever has to be done in comparison to the germans. They got going again after the second world war by resorting to break manufacturing into many smaller segments. Not enough factory space had survived. Plus the funds where not available to build new.

We sit around and complain that we are failing instead. Yet we have not been bombed almost out of existance. We are in far better shape to try new approaches but do not. The ideal perhaps that the old days are coming back again and all we have to do is wait seems to be our answer to the issue. That to me is really stupid but yet what it basically is. No stupid is not too negative a word.

Most segments or parts where produced in peoples own basements by subcontractors in germany as there were few spaces accessable. This may be the reason today still that they have a very large smaller business component that is very sound from an economic perspective. All those basement operations expanded as they could on a sound basis.

Small business does not tend to structure large debt so the fundemental economy is sounder. Also change or flexability is much easier as the costs are divided up so much.

Changing production may be very cheap in comparison with centralization like we employ. Quality control is easy to understand. The subcontractor being a small business wants to keep his contracts.

I remember years ago during a tour of some gm facility in Oshawa, Canada.There was one single plastic injection machine cranking out endless tailight lenses..

The obvious issue was it had a space of about 1/2 an acre in size to do so with forty foot ceilings. The machine was perhaps seven feet high. That machine could have functioned in a double garage in my opinion. To financially support the area in that facility that held this single piece of equipment would have been rediculous.

No human worked around this machine yet the whole half acre was heated and lit well. No obvious insulation even on the ceiling. This was just an indicator in how poor efficiency was in that large corporation. There was none or very little perhaps overall.

If you can save a hundred thousand to a million easily a year with one small obvious item how endemic to their empire was this lack of concern?

It would not seem to take a rocket scientist to figure this out. Yet they seemed not interested at all. Their attitude then was perhaps nothing could really upset their apple cart. No matter how inneficiently and lack of common sense was used. I have to wonder if all the combined inneficiency amounted to hundreds of millions a year in total in that corporation. Or even more.

Enough to have put a really world class car out there? I do not mean a propaganda type world class car either. It would have cost no more or even less to manufacture if efficiency was employed. Nice they could blame their ultimate failures on outside conditions and labour unions instead. I am not particularily pro union either.

Rotten at the core comes to mind. The real question of the times is do you save something that is rotten. If the inneficiencies are not really dealt with it is still going to be rotten. Saving some money on labour is not going to cure it.