Sad, but true- Ford joke

[likearock00]

Canoe Race

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (Ford) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents, and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the rower.

There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes, and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment.

The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was outsourced to India.

Sadly, The End.

Here's something else to think about:

Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming they can't make money paying American wages. TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US. The last quarter's results:

TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.

Ford folks are still scratching their heads.

[ohmywrd8]

Ha! So true!

[plane]

That is the level of discourse and overhyped ingrained stereotype that I would expect from you.
Congratulations on your tireless consistency.

[tama z71]

you must be from the coast

either coast

[Butz]

That isn't even remotely close to the truth, and I didn't find funny at all.

[2648562]

My God, talk about a tough crowd. That's funny as hell.

[goblue]

Its funny, once you realize it has no basis in reality.

The Japanese build here because they don't pay all the other costs the Americans do - and likewise, the Americans outsource to avoid all sorts of union costs.

So - go back 10 years and put Toyota under the UAW and see how many plants they would have opened. Currently, just NUMMI is under the UAW. Likewise, strip the union, retiree and retiree healthcare obligations off GM and see how much outsourcing happens.

Its all just a little more complicated than most people want to take the time to understand.

The more one studies the US auto manufacturing and sales market, the more complicated it gets to understand.

[FenwickHockey65]

No...not funny at all. Ford's upcoming and some of their current products look great. They just can't get the "unreliable" stigma off their hands.
As for the whole labor issue, the UAW prevents Ford from moving too many plants overseas and from paying their workers wages close to the competition. Toyota doesn't have unions.

[CJ Thunder]

This is a joke against the hurdles of management and all you people complain about outsourcing and UAW...I found it funny.