Production flexibility and tires

So apparently America has a tire shortage — or at least a specialty tire shortage. And according to Automotive News, this has been going on for a while (Pirelli plant in Ga. masters small-batch, premium tires, Oct 11). Over the last decade or so, the number of tire sizes used in the United States has [...]

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A leaner Toyota and a refocused GM

As Gady recently posted, Toyota has run into a rough stretch.  Not exactly Chrysler-rough but still a lot of folks in Toyota City must be working long hours.  The latest wrinkle on this is that Toyota is turning to suppliers to help cut costs (Toyota Accelerates Its Cost-Cutting Efforts, Wall Street Journal, Dec 23). The [...]

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General Motors and product development

Let’s start with a chart.  The Economist recently ran this spiffy graphic based on European Commission data showing which companies spend the most on research and development (Research and development Hey, big spender, Nov 20th 2009): In some ways, the list contains some likely suspects.  Pharmaceutical firms and large technology companies are well represented.  I, [...]

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Updates on Indian labor issues and managing product allocation

Two quick updates on earlier posts.  The first is on the impact Indian labor strife on manufacturing.  I posted about that a few weeks ago.   Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article that discusses how labor unrest has impacted a number of firms (Deadly Labor Wars Hinder India’s Rise, Nov 20).  It makes a number [...]

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How a strike in India closed a factory in Chicago

All politics may be local (as Tip O’Neill famously asserted) but a local labor action can now have ramifications around the globe.  In late September, workers at a plant of Rico Auto Industries near New Delhi, India,  went on strike.  That has led to assembly plants across the Midwest shutting plants shutting down.  Note that [...]

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Auto suppliers and finance

More from the continuing saga of the auto industry coming out of the recession. In particular, it appears that auto suppliers (especially smaller ones) are having a hard time lining up financing to expand as the industry recovers (Parts makers face plenty of peril in industry’s recovery, Automotive News, Sep 28). Here is the issue [...]

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