Ford vs Toyota - Canoe Race

[ExtraExtra]

I received this yeaterday and thought it was funny.

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Canoe Race

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (Ford) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced 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 8 people steering and 1 person 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, 3 area steering superintendents, and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person 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 rower.

There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes, and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment.

The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was outsourced 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. 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.

[Usil]

So true. I would not be surprised to see one of our car manufactureres fall to bancrupcy and ask for a government bailout in the near future. In the 70's/80's when foreign cars like Honda and Toyota started to make inroads in car sales in the US by selling better cars at cheaper prices, Ford and GM cried foul and got congress to pass restrictive inport taxes to effectively not only remove the price difference but make them more expensive. I remember that as soon as these taxes were enacted all US manufactureres raised their prices considerably and screwed the consumers.

These companies are slow, jugernauts living in the past and no idea how to survive in the future. European car manufactureres have been building fuel efficient cars for years with most having small diesel engines in them. I know because when I lived in France I marveled at how slow the gas gage moved. If they were smart they would enter the US and fill the need.

Usil