Auto Assembly Line 1936

[Dale O Sea]

Take it from an old line dog, 20 years and out is a good deal if you can get it..I was on much worse paying assembly lines for most of thirty years, some union, and can attest that factory work can be brutal, disabling.

[voguy]

I am a big GM man, every car I own is a GM. I always have a collector GM in my garage. The government should have never bailed out that company. They should have closed their doors and those workers should have starved for all I care.

Same here.

An economist at one of our local universities was on one of those car shows and speculated that had GM gone belly up it would have done several things.

1) The riff-raff would be out of the top. New people would be in while the banks dealt with the problem.

2) Models would cease to exist. He sited the parallels between Buick and Chevy, and said Chevy would end up being a basic model, while Buick would be the more impressive ride. Cadillac would go back to two, possibly three models.

3) The factories would be completely changed around, and some (Flint) could see sort of a revitalization as a new non-union work force was assembled, modeling after how Honda runs Marysville and Anna OH.

4) We could see the birth of the basic car. Remember the Vega? Something small, 4 or 6 cyl, and under $18k

5) He mentioned was that this would then force Ford and Chrysler to retool, and scrub the waste from their companies, making the U.S. a leader again in the car markets.

6) And finally he mentioned it would put the company in a position to launch more electric models, since they would be free from subsidizing the expensive cars.

I have to agree. When you bail a company out like that, you're just sending the message that they can continue business as usual. And I think the record speaks for that.

[Diogenes]

Take it from an old line dog, 20 years and out is a good deal if you can get it..I was on much worse paying assembly lines for most of thirty years, some union, and can attest that factory work can be brutal, disabling.

Dale,

I understand what you are saying - even office work can be brutal. It's that repetitive motion when you do something for years and years - and that goes for office work too - it's hard to believe but true.

[Diogenes]

Unions equivalent to the Mafia - IMHO.

[Sinner]

Same here.

An economist at one of our local universities was on one of those car shows and speculated that had GM gone belly up it would have done several things.

1) The riff-raff would be out of the top. New people would be in while the banks dealt with the problem.

2) Models would cease to exist. He sited the parallels between Buick and Chevy, and said Chevy would end up being a basic model, while Buick would be the more impressive ride. Cadillac would go back to two, possibly three models.

3) The factories would be completely changed around, and some (Flint) could see sort of a revitalization as a new non-union work force was assembled, modeling after how Honda runs Marysville and Anna OH.

4) We could see the birth of the basic car. Remember the Vega? Something small, 4 or 6 cyl, and under k

5) He mentioned was that this would then force Ford and Chrysler to retool, and scrub the waste from their companies, making the U.S. a leader again in the car markets.

6) And finally he mentioned it would put the company in a position to launch more electric models, since they would be free from subsidizing the expensive cars.

I have to agree. When you bail a company out like that, you're just sending the message that they can continue business as usual. And I think the record speaks for that.

Agreed!

[Sinner]

Take it from an old line dog, 20 years and out is a good deal if you can get it..I was on much worse paying assembly lines for most of thirty years, some union, and can attest that factory work can be brutal, disabling.

Agree with this too Dale!

[SquidInk]

Unions equivalent to the Mafia - IMHO.

How so?

[SquidInk]

http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

My father, on the other hand, did not like Manna at all from the very first day he saw me wearing the headset in the restaurant. He and Mom had come in for lunch and to say hi. I knew they were coming, so I had timed my break so I could sit down with them for a few minutes. When I sat down, my father noticed the headset.

"So", he said, "they have you working the drive-thru I see. Is that a step up or a step down?"

"It's not the drive-thru," I replied, "it's a new system they've installed called Manna. It manages the store."

"How so?"

"It tells me what to do through the headset."

"Who, the manager?"

"No, it's a computer."

He looked at me for a long time, "A computer is telling you what to do on the job? What does the manager do?"

"The computer is the manager. Manna, manager, get it?"

"You mean that a computer is telling you what to do all day?", he asked.

"Yeah."

"Like what?"

I gave him an example, "Before you got here, I was taking out the trash. Manna told me how to do it."

"What did it say?"

"It tells you exactly what to do. Like, It told me to get four new bags from the rack. When I did that it told me to go to trash can #1. Once I got there it told me to open the cabinet and pull out the trash can. Once I did that it told me to check the floor for any debris. Then it told me to tie up the bag and put it to the side, on the left. Then it told me to put a new bag in the can. Then it told me to attach the bag to the rim. Then it told me to put the can back in and close the cabinet. Then it told me to wipe down the cabinet and make sure it's spotless. Then it told me to push the help button on the can to make sure it is working. Then it told me to move to trash can #2. Like that."

He looked at me for a long time again before he said, "Good Lord, you are nothing but a piece of a robot. What is it saying to you now?"

"It just told me I have three minutes left on my break. And it told me to smile and say hello to the guests. How's this? Hi!" And I gave him a big toothy grin.

"Yesterday the people controlled the computers. Now the computers control the people. You are the eyes and hands for this robot. And all so that Joe Garcia can make million per year. Do you know what will happen if this spreads?"

[...]

The tests in our Burger-G store were surprisingly successful. There were Burger-G corporate guys in the restaurant watching us, fixing bugs in the software, making sure Manna was covering all the bases, and they were pleased. It took about 3 months to work all the kinks out, and as they did the Manna software totally changed the restaurant. Worker performance nearly doubled. So did customer satisfaction. So did the consistency of the customer's experience. Trash cans never overfilled. Bathrooms were remarkably clean. Employees always washed their hands when they needed to. Food was ready faster. The meals we handed out were nearly 100 percent accurate because Manna made us check to make sure every item in the bag was exactly what the customer ordered. The store never ran out of supplies -- there were always plenty of napkins in the dispenser and the ketchup container was always full. There were enough employees in the store for the busy times, because Manna could accurately track trends and staff appropriately.

In addition, Burger-G saved a ton of money. Burger-G had hundreds of stores in the United States. Manna worked so well that Burger-G deployed it nationwide. Soon Burger-G had cut more than 3,000 of its higher-paid store employees -- mostly assistant managers and managers. That one change saved the company nearly 0 million per year, and all that money came straight to the bottom line for the restaurant chain. Shareholders were ecstatic. Mr. G gave himself another big raise to celebrate. In addition, Manna had optimized store staffing and had gotten a significant productivity boost out of the employees in the store. That saved another 0 million. 0 million made a huge difference in the fast food industry.

Interesting times. Growing populations, shrinking need for humans. Where does that get us in say, 25 years?