The US automotive industry suffered a fatal blow. Yet anyone who claims that the industry’s demise may be linked to a single root-cause of failure is sadly mistaken. I spent the higher portion of 10 years within that industry many of which in an executive or managerial part.

However, there’s no silver bullet that caused the fall. I say sadly for the reason that a single trigger of failure might be prevented within the future. Within this case, the blame can be put only on the program as a whole generating it complicated to defend against a repeat occurrence.

What the automotive industry suffered was a catastrophic failure brought on by various points of failure. We’re talking systemic failure in its truest form. As an insider within the sector, I can personally attest to a few of the actions (or lack thereof) that pushed the sector to a collapse.

One particular of your greatest gremlins that undermined the sector was a myopic concentrate on piece price (cost). More than the years the automobile manufacturers became completely engulfed in driving (no pun intended) suppliers to decrease sell costs in an attempt to lower the production price of a car or truck or truck and consequently raise the bottom line.

This shortsighted focus on decrease piece price was so robust that supplier relationships have been sacrificed. A single in the Significant 3 automotive firms believed that if a single supplier went under that an additional would normally step up. How is that … Read More ...