Part of "the plan" is to make Pontiac a specialty division, offering racy convertibles and pocket rockets. Saturn, which is now just a Chevrolet, will be going somewhere else--maybe away. SAAB and Hummer are on the chopping block, and probably GMC badges will disapear from pickups. I can remember the time when we had Chieftain, Star Chief, and Bonneville; and Biscayne, Bel Aire, and Impala--all the same car with different skin, armrests, and chrome pieces--but Pontiac engines and Chevrolet engines. At one time there were about fifty different configuratons for parts such as power steering pumps, window crank mechanisms, carburators, brakes, alternators, etc.just to fit inside each division's own 'special' design.
Under the old "Alfred E. Slone" concept, yes, each division--and each individual plant--was configured as a 'profit center", so the vice presidents all competed against each other. It has been just recently(on the GM time clock, at least) that GM has converted to the concept of Activity Based Costing--which allocates all of a plant's resources and costs down to the part unit level--including the labor costs, benefits, medical, taxes, salaries, utilities, materials,everything to the penny, on a budgetary basis. This has sorted out some of the BS from the days of old--and that's why you see many plants shutting their doors. (It should be no secret that farmers have been using the ABC method, or some semblance of it for years to make go/no go decisions about specific crop or animal production)
Most of my experience with the GM elephant has been mostly from the tail end, rather than the trunk. It takes a pretty big cattle prod to keep it moving fast enough to outlast the current confidence crisis. Hopefully it will, as my retirement check is tied to GM' future well being. (And I have to move fast enough to keep out of the way of the elephant's you know what...)
But, because GM is, and has been, so huge, I will maintain that it simply mirrors the larger American experience, just by the statistics of the bell curve. Any sickness that you find in GM, I'm sure you will find it among us all. That is the larger issue in our current financial condition. I've seen great people in all the ranks of GM, from janitor to vice president--and scoundrels as well. Same as this board, or my home town, or yours........
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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