mythoughts: February 2009

GM supplier answers GM President Troy Clarke's "plea"

This is one of the greatest responses to the requests for bailout money
I have seen thus far. As a supplier for the Big 3 this man re ceived a
letter from the President of GM North America requesting support for the
bail out program. His response is classic, and has to make you proud of
a local guy who tells it like it is.

Dear Employees & Suppliers,
Congress and the current Administration will soon determine whether to
provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it
through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's
history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why
this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior
to the global financial crisis......................As an employee or
supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most
effective and passionate voices.. I know GM can count on you to have
your voice heard. Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.

Troy Clarke President General Motors No rth America

Response from:
Gregory Knox, Pres.
Knox Machinery Company
Franklin , Ohio

Gentlemen:

In response to your request to contact legislators and ask for a bailout
for the Big Three automakers please consider the following, and please
pass my thoughts on to Troy Clark, President of General Motors North
America.

Politicians and Management of the Big 3 are both infected with the same
entitlement mentality that has spread like cancerous germs in UAW halls
for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping this
nation, awaiting our new "messiah", Pres-elect Obama, to wave his magic
wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing
our once great nation to keep "living the dream"... Believe me folks,
The dream is over!

This dream where we can ignore the consumer for years while management
myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time
that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid,
arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without
paying the price for these atrocities...this dream where you still think
the masses will line up to buy our products for ever and ever.

Don't even think about telling me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not
knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW,
Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM's
throughout the Midwest during the past 30 years and what I've seen over
those years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.

Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America, states: "There
is widespread sentiment throughout this country, and our government, and
especially via the news media, that the current crisis is completely the
result of bad management which it certainly is not."

You're right Mr. Clarke, it's not JUST management...how about the
electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times,
making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass...so
they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time...for a
job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour work week.
How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare
tactics...for putting out too many parts on a shift...and for being too
productive

(We certainly must not expose those lazy bums who have been getting
overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?)

Do you folks really not know about this stuff?!? How about this great
sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea: "over the last few years
...we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors."
What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!? Did we
really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and
them? The K car vs. the Accord? The Pinto vs. the Civic?!? Do I
need to go on? What a joke!

We are liv ing through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the
United States auto industry for decades. It's time to pay for your
sins, Detroit .

I attended an economic summit last week where brilliant economist, Alan
Beaulieu, from the Institute of Trend Research , surprised the crowd
when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout
money". "Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems," but
despite what people like politicians and corporate magnates would have
us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next day... and the follo
wing very important thing would happen...where there had been greedy and
sloppy banks, new efficient ones would pop up...that is how a free
market system works...it does work...if we would only let it work..."

But for some nondescript reason we are now deciding that the rest of the
world is right and that capitalism doesn't work - that we need the
government to step in and "save us"...Save us my ass, Hell - we're
nationalizing...and unfortunately too many of our once fine nation's
citizens don't even have a clue that this is what is really
happening...But, they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite
sports teams...yeah - THAT'S really important, isn't it...

Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing
vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades in this country?... How can
that be??? Let's see... Fuel efficient... Listening to customers...
Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul...

Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr. W. Edwards Deming
four decades ago when he taught that by adopting appropriate principles
of management, organizations could increase quality and simultaneously
reduce costs. Ever increased productivity through quality and
intelligent planning... Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather
than like "the enemy"... Efficient front and back offices... Non union
environment...

Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone
anything they really don't already know down deep in their hearts.

I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting
someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into -
my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did when I was
their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their
greatest gifts, by the way) - I make them stand on their own two feet
and accept the consequences of their actions and work through it.
Radical concept, huh... Am I there for them in the wings? Of course -
but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as
adults.

I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly
are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and
government. Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins.
Bad news people - it's coming whe ther we like it or not. The newly
elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it
all go away." I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost
immediately after the final vote count was tallied..."we really might
not do it in a year...or in four..." Where the Hell was that kind of
talk when he was RUNNING for office.

Stop trying to put off the inevitable folks ... That house in Florida
really isn't worth $750,000... People who jump across a border really
don't deserve free health care benefits... That job driving that
forklift for the Big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year... We really
shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired
from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most
atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe...

That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't
be living in that $485,000 home... Let the market correct itself folks -
it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna' be painful either way,
and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it all,
is a nation that appreciates what it has...and doesn't live beyond its
means...and gets back to basics...and redevelops the patriotic work
ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world...and
probably turns back to God.

Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you
the "bad news". I hope you take it to heart.

Gregory J. Knox, President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin , Ohio 45005