Originally Posted By: 1001hobbies
This will be a long post. You might want to go get something to drink, lol.
So that everyone knows where I am coming from; been into cars all my life and I am 46 now. I worked in auto parts stores, graduated from an auto tech school, was a mechanic, and have worked on cars my whole life, and still do. I am also a Welder and a Journeyman Toolmaker so I know something about metallurgy. I work at Ford and I work in the plant where the Mercury Villager/Nissan Quest was built from 1992 to 2002 on tooling built by Nissan in Japan. It was an "Association", not a "Joint Venture."
In the late 1980's, early 1990's there were news stories on shows like "60 Minutes" about the Japanese companies coming to the USA. Everytime a new Japanese manufacturer came to the US they also brought all of their Japanese suppliers with them. The parts that were built for the manufacturer in the US were built by the Japanese suppliers. This way, all of the profits these companies made went back to Japan. Some of you may remember those reports.
When you buy a Japanese brand car, built in the US, and with a high US content, perhaps look into those suppliers to see how many of them are Japanese transplants, with profits going back to Japan.
Recently I have bought "Asian" repair parts. I bought 5 "made in Korea," National brand front hub bearing assemblies for a 1996 Mercury Sable. The first 2 bearings did not survive driving around the block. Of the next two bearings one failed the drive around the block. The fifth bearing also did not survive. This was not a case of getting one mass produced, defective part, this was 4 out of 5!
I bought 2 new bearing hub assemblies from Ford. They were made in USA by TRW. The outer diameter of the bearing was larger than the National brand bearings. The National brand, Korean bearings were too small for the application. After 12,000 miles no problem with the Ford assemblies.
I started taking brand new rotors to a shop to have them machined. This is because I got tired of having brake pedal pulsation either right away or within 3 months of replacing rotors and pads. The last pair of rotors required .020" of machining to make them true.
New aftermarket rotors are not "turned" anymore. They are blanchard ground. When they are ground this way the two surfaces are NOT ground in reference to the surface of the hub where the rotor mounts. Because of this it cannot be balanced to the correct feature. I am done buying aftermarket rotors now. I will only by OEM, made in the USA, lathe machined rotors.
There are no more Made In USA, aftermarket brake rotors or drums. I researched this and found a long story which I will make as short as possible.
When China started dumping these parts in the US below market value the US manufacturers went to the International Trade Commission. The Commission agreed that the Chinese companies were not selling their parts here at fair competitive prices so imparted an 8% tariff on the rotors and drums. Well, 8% of a super cheap price is not very much. Over time the group of companies complaining grew. After a regular interval for review it was agreed by the commission that the same thing was still going on, so the same 8% tariff stayed in place. At the next review interval there was only about 5 companies out of about 15 left to complain. Things remained the same. At the next review 1 or 2 companies were left and the other 3 had withdrawn from the complaint and was now petitioning against the tariff as they were importing these parts from China.
Metallurgy in China is not the same as in the US. What we call 4130 chrome-molly steel here is not the same exact composition as what they call 4130 chrome-molly steel over there. This has been proven for a number of metals. I will imagine most here expect the Chinese equivalent did not EXCEED the US specifications. Didn't even meet them.
The tooling for the Villager and Quest was built in Japan. I don't know where the steel was made but it cut like butter and sometimes while you were machining a modification in the tooling you would find slag floating in the middle of the metal. This is the only time I have ever experienced this.
Quote:
There seems to be no friendship between the unions and their employers, and compromise to adjust to current economic status is not on their list of priorities.
A lot of people on the outside have this sentiment. I'll tell you how it is in the inside, at least at Ford.
Of course there is not equal, 100% love for each other, but the relationship between the UAW and Ford has been praised many times in the media, by analysts and Ford Executives, as the best in the industry.
Ford and the UAW have created many joint programs. These programs are for things like safety, quality improvements, production improvements, and the Apprenticeship program, which has been recognized by the US Department of Labor as "World Class."
The Supervisors who do not have a power chip on their shoulder, and want to help the workers with what they need to get the job done, enjoy productivity, quality, and up-time as much as they would hope for. All the workers want is to be able to do their jobs and have what they need to do them. After that, the work gets done, just like anyone else. Just get that tool that is needed, or that safety device so the worker can work without fear of injury, or a working fan if the one that is near them breaks down when it is 100 degrees in the plant.
As for "...and compromise to adjust to current economic status," the UAW re-opened (unprecedented) the 2003 contract in 2005 to make modifications and to negotiate "Competitive Operating Agreements" on the local level at all the plants. Included were work rule changes and a wage freeze, among other things.
In 2007 the new contract was billed by Alan Mulally as "transformational" in it's concessions and give-backs.
In December 2008 the UAW at Ford approved more concessions including the doing away with the "jobs bank" as it was known, and 2 other give-backs. (Can't remember which ones)
In March 2009, BEFORE GM and Chrysler workers made their concessions that were required by the Government, the UAW workers at Ford approved another large round of concessions, doing away with bonuses, some break time, instilling the two tier wage system, agreeing that Ford could pay part of their obligation to the VEBA account with stock shares instead of money, continued wage freeze, and much more. Actually, we basically approved all the concessions that GM and Chrysler had to make except for giving up the right to strike and a 5 year freeze on new hires wage ($14/hr). That's it.
In October 2009 Ford wanted us to approve those last two concessions. It was voted down.
To dispell a myth, the VEBA account to fund the healthcare of the retirees came about when Ford asked the UAW to create the VEBA in the 2007 contract talks. It was not the UAW's idea, it was the company's, and the company's suggestion. The UAW members agreed. This took the costs of healthcare for retirees off of Ford's books which improves their balance sheet.
An example of work rule changes is changing overtime pay after 8 hours to overtime pay after 40. This enabled Ford to change the production schedule to 4 ten hour work days to get a 40 hour work week, without overtime pay for working 10 hours a day. The benefit of this is being able to have Maintenance perform their duties on Friday (maintenance works 5 eight hour days) when it is straight time pay instead of on Saturday, which is all overtime pay, when the line is not running.
One more quick note. If anyone wants to believe the UAW workers were receiving $73 in total compensation, Ok, believe that, even though the math in my report from Ford does not add up that way, too many people want to believe it anyway. Now Ford is within $4 of Toyota in total labor cost, and Toyota still does not have 1,000 retirees.
So that is the relationship between Ford and the UAW. I'll never tell you it is perfect, but we get along better than any other automaker. Many positive things have happened by working together, and Mulally said in a press conference that Ford now had ALL the concessions it needed from all stakeholders after the March 2009 concessions. If the President of the company says he has everything he needs, what are we to believe?
Steve
THANK YOU! Being a GM insider (Mgt. side), I can fully relate to your points. Great write-up.
