While doing some rather boring reading for my MBA Organizational Behavior class I came across this interesting little tidbit.

From MacDuffie & Kochan, "Do U.S. Firms Invest Less in Human Resources? Training in the World Auto Industry.", Industry Relations 34 (1995): 156

Amount of Training for Production Workers in Automobile Assembly Plants
Ownership/Location--------- Hrs of training in first 6 mo-------Hrs per year for exper. employees

Japanese/Japan-----------------------364-----------------------------------76
Brazil,Korea,Taiwan-------------------260----------------------------------46
Japanese/North America----------------225----------------------------------52
European/Europe---------------------178-----------------------------------52
US/Europe-----------------------------43-----------------------------------34
US/North America----------------------42------------------------------------31
Australia---------------------------------40------------------------------------15

 

Judging from the variations in quality (and we have to remember that this inf. is real stale) I'd conclude that the Japanese are unnecessarily inflating production costs. This is probably not the smartest move for them since they already have the added cost of being predominatly an exporter.

Do you really think that guy installing the lug nuts or monitoring the robot is 866% better at it in a Japanese plant?

Or maybe it indicates a problem with the Japanese educational system (Sorry, couldn't resist )

Seriously, I haven't owned a car new or used (except a 10 year old '68 VW bus) that had more defects than the S2000.

 

So if the build quality were down to that of the average American/American car, based on their training hours etc, the production costs should be down around ...say that of a Hyundai?

But seriously, I've had company cars and rental cars that were all US nameplates and unfortunatley, the build quality is still far inferior to many of the average Japanese nameplated cars (ie Accord, Camry etc) The S2000 is probably not a good indicator of quality> Since these are handbuilt, there will be a wider decrepency in quality than that of a production line built model. Personally, my S2000 has had very few issues that I otherwise would have complaine about if it weren't such a special car.

 

You sure your not comparing build/materials quality with design flaws? IMHO, and after owning 2 S2000's now, I think the build quality is excellent, the materials (especially interior) leave a bit to be desired and some of the design is just plain questionable.

 

That's an interesting statistic, but that really means nothing. You don't know what the people are doing and how well they're doing their jobs.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by johnyboy32
[B]

You sure your not comparing build/materials quality with design flaws?

 

ahhh, yes, org-b, not a bad class. it was quite a release from jet propulsions and advanced fluid dynamics during my senior year. social psychology is a relatively unexplored (and imperfect) field of statistical analysis - most of the time you spend more time proving that you're comparing apples and apples than actually drawing conclusions from your data. just mtc

Honer

 

If you're real smart maybe you don't need as much training?

On second thought, I'm quite sure that has nothing to do with it!

 

After nearly two years and 22,000 miles I experienced my first mechanical failure a while back. The window regulator failed on the driver's side and was replaced under TSB #01-008 today. I hope the fix stays fixed. Unfortunately, this actually cost me $116 because I got a speeding ticket shortly after leaving the dealership. Hello defensive driving comedy school!

 

Yo Matt, are you going to Pepperdine? Or you back at your Alma Matter? (sp?)