Excellent. I worked at the old Ford Foundry and it was far better run than any of the Big 3 today. Farley’s comments say it all. By the way, I worked at the foundry in the 1960’s.
Suggested readings for those who wish a realist description should read Soresen’s autobiography about his work at Ford’s as we natives called it. It’s on Amazon. Bob Lutz has several excellent books. I recommend AJ Baime’s story of Willow Run. More later
"What? Treat a labor input unit as a human being? That's not "efficient"! We want our workers to absorb all the risks of business variability and the costs of the expertise needed while being available to maximize our opportunities when they arise. Workers need to get out of their little peabrains that they are important. They are labor input units and need to conform." Says big capital.
Removing Illegal alien workers, like removing slaves, puts free workers on an actual competitive marketplace for labor. The economy will have to adjust as the more physical labor work becomes properly valued. Some things will be more expensive, but more people will also be able to afford more expensive. Labor is woefully undervalued, management is grossly overvalued. True fact.
Your idea has proof of working. An auto shop has been using this formula for tech pay for at least a couple months. The mechanic/ biz owner posted a video about it and it has 170k likes and lots of positive comments. https://youtube.com/shorts/WrkF-Qsf1Bs?si=RHXYfsDhpvWNrbA5
As a management consultant with (presumably) an MBA from a good school, you should know better than to write an article like this without mentioning *why* dealerships structure mechanical work the way they do. Unlike management consultants (one of which I used to be), whose work comes at very high margin for their employing firm, the market won't bear extremely high costs for car work. If Ford dealerships instituted the changes you're suggesting and independent repair shops didn't Ford would soon find itself doing no car repair because they'd be undercut on price by their competition. The only way around that is something like true sectoral union bargaining, but that's not going to happen in an America where the GOP controls Congress and the White House.
Maybe. Another outcome might be that the Ford dealership is fully staffed with auto mechanics that can trade on the Ford name for work at a slightly higher price, while the independents, still placing all the upfront cost of the individual, find themselves short-staffed and losing jobs to the dealership. Maybe?
Are you going to take your $60,000 truck to an independent to have the transmission rebuilt? Many of us won't, because the dealer can back up their work, while the independent isn't going to eat their mistakes without a fight. Yes, there will be a small number of independents who can do an excellent job on complex work, but they will be hard-pressed to retain good workers if real pros can make more money at the dealership. Independents can always hang a new alternator or change your shocks for less than a dealer, but once you get into complex electrical work, transmissions, or engine tear-downs, you are rolling the dice.
Mechanics advertise online, some will even come to your house and work on it there. Rates are much more competitive and the quality is better. The dealership pays it's help a flat rate that is horrible, no one works at a dealer for long. If auto dealers want good workers they need to pay for them.
Great article. OTOH, I would guess that it was management consultants who decided that the current approach (very low starting wage, having to bankroll your own startup costs, etc.) was advantageous for Ford.
Are you suggesting we should go back to allowing GM and Ford to dump toxic waste into the environment and make it's employees work 80 hours a week with no overtime, unemployment insurance, or worker's compensation?
Yes. I was pretty disgusted when I read that article in the WSJ. These people apparently think the free market is broken if they don't get what they want for the price they want. Work must pay. If work doesn't pay, you'll have too few employees, lousy employees, or a combination of the two. This is an easy fix. Our education bureaucracy needs to play a constructive role in getting people into the pipeline for good jobs like this.
The $120k/5000 jobs Farley quote was so unbelievable that I knew there had to a "rest of the story" that they weren't telling us. Sure enough, money isn't what he claimed and you can sit around idle. Makes you skeptical of many management "skills shortage" claims.
Excellent. I worked at the old Ford Foundry and it was far better run than any of the Big 3 today. Farley’s comments say it all. By the way, I worked at the foundry in the 1960’s.
Suggested readings for those who wish a realist description should read Soresen’s autobiography about his work at Ford’s as we natives called it. It’s on Amazon. Bob Lutz has several excellent books. I recommend AJ Baime’s story of Willow Run. More later
"What? Treat a labor input unit as a human being? That's not "efficient"! We want our workers to absorb all the risks of business variability and the costs of the expertise needed while being available to maximize our opportunities when they arise. Workers need to get out of their little peabrains that they are important. They are labor input units and need to conform." Says big capital.
Removing Illegal alien workers, like removing slaves, puts free workers on an actual competitive marketplace for labor. The economy will have to adjust as the more physical labor work becomes properly valued. Some things will be more expensive, but more people will also be able to afford more expensive. Labor is woefully undervalued, management is grossly overvalued. True fact.
Your idea has proof of working. An auto shop has been using this formula for tech pay for at least a couple months. The mechanic/ biz owner posted a video about it and it has 170k likes and lots of positive comments. https://youtube.com/shorts/WrkF-Qsf1Bs?si=RHXYfsDhpvWNrbA5
Well done! Oh - this is the same company that makes extensive use of 'purchased services' engineers, these days (i.e. H-1B visa holders).
Excellent diagnosis and even more importantly reasonable solution
Amen! Won't happen though. Gotta keep those quarterly stock prices going up! Heaven forbid a company spends any money on the grunts.
As a management consultant with (presumably) an MBA from a good school, you should know better than to write an article like this without mentioning *why* dealerships structure mechanical work the way they do. Unlike management consultants (one of which I used to be), whose work comes at very high margin for their employing firm, the market won't bear extremely high costs for car work. If Ford dealerships instituted the changes you're suggesting and independent repair shops didn't Ford would soon find itself doing no car repair because they'd be undercut on price by their competition. The only way around that is something like true sectoral union bargaining, but that's not going to happen in an America where the GOP controls Congress and the White House.
Maybe. Another outcome might be that the Ford dealership is fully staffed with auto mechanics that can trade on the Ford name for work at a slightly higher price, while the independents, still placing all the upfront cost of the individual, find themselves short-staffed and losing jobs to the dealership. Maybe?
Are you going to take your $60,000 truck to an independent to have the transmission rebuilt? Many of us won't, because the dealer can back up their work, while the independent isn't going to eat their mistakes without a fight. Yes, there will be a small number of independents who can do an excellent job on complex work, but they will be hard-pressed to retain good workers if real pros can make more money at the dealership. Independents can always hang a new alternator or change your shocks for less than a dealer, but once you get into complex electrical work, transmissions, or engine tear-downs, you are rolling the dice.
Mechanics advertise online, some will even come to your house and work on it there. Rates are much more competitive and the quality is better. The dealership pays it's help a flat rate that is horrible, no one works at a dealer for long. If auto dealers want good workers they need to pay for them.
Great article. OTOH, I would guess that it was management consultants who decided that the current approach (very low starting wage, having to bankroll your own startup costs, etc.) was advantageous for Ford.
Great points, I would only add that they might try making better vehicles that don't need as many repairs in the first place.
As things stand now, Chinese automakers would put Ford and GM out of business in short order if allowed to.
And they would deserve it.
Are you suggesting we should go back to allowing GM and Ford to dump toxic waste into the environment and make it's employees work 80 hours a week with no overtime, unemployment insurance, or worker's compensation?
Yes. I was pretty disgusted when I read that article in the WSJ. These people apparently think the free market is broken if they don't get what they want for the price they want. Work must pay. If work doesn't pay, you'll have too few employees, lousy employees, or a combination of the two. This is an easy fix. Our education bureaucracy needs to play a constructive role in getting people into the pipeline for good jobs like this.
The $120k/5000 jobs Farley quote was so unbelievable that I knew there had to a "rest of the story" that they weren't telling us. Sure enough, money isn't what he claimed and you can sit around idle. Makes you skeptical of many management "skills shortage" claims.
Wow, great reading of this important "shortage" situation and many terrific details - thank you!