The Culture of Auto Industries

Some have called the failure of the American car industry a result of a learning disorder: GM, Ford and Chrysler could not combine the best practices of world’s auto industry to stay afloat. Time magazine has referred to a symbolic lesson GM missed, while all the signs for how to increase factory productivity were there.

A GM-owned plant was established in 1984 in collaboration with Toyota’s production process and local union workers. The plant had been one of GM’s worst; the Toyota system made it one of GM’s best. Toyota’s corporate culture placed more trust in the laborers on the factory floor, which is something GM apparently couldn’t apply company-wide.

See the article that details this and more here.