What is Good for General Motors? by Thomas Crumm

Author:Thomas Crumm
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Algora Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Running Automation at Slow Speeds

My evening crew on the V-8 rocker cover welder began to hit the standard day after day in late February and early March. Even the foreman on the day shift was nearing the standard of sixteen thousand per shift. I could only imagine the pressure cooker he had faced in getting there after three years of running eleven thousand and telling his boss that sixteen thousand was impossible. But my next major lesson in operations was about to unfold.

During the third week of March, we began having problems getting enough shipping containers. The dock supervisor was sending his checking clerk to the rail yard on the west side of town. The clerk would take a pry bar and open railcars, searching with a flashlight for more 108-inch shipping racks. He would return with a list of car numbers, and the foreman would call the yard and have them switched into Plant 8. We were also down to our last few coils of steel. The real show stopper came when we ran out of orders. On Wednesday of that week Bob, the superintendent of Plant 8, called me into his office. As I walked in, he motioned for me to leave the door open. Leaving it open meant the conversation was going to be all business. It also meant he wanted the rumor mill to spread a message. He began with, “You’re going to have to shut down the V-8 job next week.”

“What am I going to do with my people?” I asked in shock.

He was cold and matter of fact in his reply, “Find them jobs or send them home.”

I knew if I sent them home for a week, they would not get paid. They could not draw unemployment unless they had been out of work for more than five days. The reward I would hand them for working hard was going to be a cut in pay. I had to find them jobs. On the phone with the clerk’s help, I managed to convince fifteen departments across the complex to accept one or two people for a week. I needed jobs for twenty-seven. Twelve were going to have to be laid off. Those laid off would be chosen based on seniority. They would be those least likely to have money set aside for such a layoff. The clerk handed me a list of employees based on seniority; apparently he had such a list at the ready for occasions like this. I jotted down the twelve lowest-seniority names and headed back to my desk, catching a group of people on their way to lunch. I told them I wanted to talk to everyone around my desk when they came back. Thinking back, it is amazing how I could count on the grapevine to disseminate a message inside a factory.

At 7:30 my crew of forty-four was gathered around my desk. With a long face I began, “I have to shut down the V-8 welders and presses next week.

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