I have shared that NPR podcast with countless executives from every industry imaginable during my consulting assignments. The discussions that ensue are the most wonderful and powerful examinations of the nature of Organizational design one could imagine.
Thanks for sharing Nigel!!! I was there on the Lean Digital Summit but unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to attend the coach session with the master John Shook. It is really good to listen and remember this experience from the emblematic history of NUMMI.
NUMMI was 5.5 million square feet of production space situated on 3 parcels of land totaling 425 acres. 1984 NUMMI started. The GM 2009 bankruptcy forced the joint venture partnership closure. Toyota opted to not continue operations in a unionized environment. The 4,500 non-exempt hourly & 500 exempt salaried employees were relieved of their duties. The plant was shuttled while a tiny non-profitable company named Tesla purchased the plant for $46 million. Estimated value of the plant at that time was at $4.5 billion. To this day it is estimated that Tesla utilizes approximately 30% of the available production space. In 2007 NUMMI produced 517,000 total vehicles. Toyota Tacoma, Corolla & Pontiac Vibe. On an average day there were 625 Tacoma's & 1,100 Corolla's & Vibes produced. It was a quiet plan that Prius was to possibly come to NUMMI to support production for US sales yet closure ended the plan. It is estimated that the NUMMI plant ultimately supported upwards of 75,000 California workers within the state. Our production was quality. Our workers were excellent. Our pride was off the chart. Many of us were recruited by Tesla of which virtually all of us are now long gone. The California auto plants were relocated out of California. Employees were a huge part of it all yet government activities were also a part. The NUMMI plant closure was a very sad day for us all. I watched the NUMMI sign be taken down & discarded out back in the dirt while I watched the Tesla sign being installed.
The rest of the story is Toyota took what they learned at NUMMI to Kentucky to run the most successful assembly plant in the nation while GM 40 years later still struggles to implement what they learned from Toyota. The sticking point is upper level managers who can't grasp the repair in station portion of this business plan. Trust me I should know. I tried to implement these 40 year old ideas & can tell you where the weakness is to this day & its not the "culture" of the line workers.
@@JoeV-nq9ez That's the lesson which GM never learnt though they took the help of Toyota,Isuzu for production and components.But after 2010,they went back to their old form which made them to suffer even today.Seriously,they even closed plants in Australia,South Africa,Thailand and other Asia mfg plants along with Europe.GM must improve their quality of mfg along with durability in order to survive in the markets along with their home markets.
