Chinese automaker reportedly bids for Fiat Chrysler-gctid821093

[BobS]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/chinese-automaker-reportedly-bids-for-fiat-chrysler/ar-AAq3Cue

[baylineguy]

To me, it would be a sad day if the Chinese came to own marquee names like Jeep, Ram, Maserati, and Chrysler ( I own a 300 myself). I know autos are a global industry now but I wonder how many would lose interest in buying those names if they were owned by the chinese. Chinese is synonymous with cheap.

[Download_Complete]

Volvo is currently owned by Geely, a Chinese company.

Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) is owned by Tata, an Indian company.

It's only a matter of time, and a solid argument can be made that FCA is being mismanaged from a domestic (CJDR) standpoint. Reliability is down, in some cases significantly so. The only good models right now are the Mercedes-holdover platforms (Charger, Challenger, 300, Grand Cherokee) which are barely average in terns of reliability and ancient by comparison to the newer (and very unreliable) new models.

Further, Chrysler is in this weird phugoid cycle of crazy highs and company-threatening lows. Using my examples above, both Volvo and JLR are experiencing a rennaisance of sorts thanks to the infusion of cash from their owners. Chrysler needs to be owned by a company that will fill the product pipeline, and not strategically plug holes that aren't filled with other product lines (Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, etc..), OR fighting with each other.

[Pcpete]

Oh, the story of Chrysler is sadder. In the post Iacca years Chrysler began paying a lot of attention to the Toyota Manufacturing Process that, among other things, revises the supply chain members from a compete by doing what I say to partnering and asking how to make each stage of the process better. Things like designing an an assembly with a "I went to College for this so I know what's best" to going out on the shop floor and asking those that are actually doing the work how to do it better and having a conversation about it. Parts prices were lower, but fair. Everybody's making money and Toyota was nervous because those Chrysler guys were "getting it". The was a huge party at Toyota when Dimler came in and shoved it back to business as usual.

[Redwngr]

Annual auto sales in China are quite a bit higher than in North America.

[smitty477]

"Pcpete" post=821121 wrote:
Oh, the story of Chrysler is sadder. In the post Iacca years Chrysler began paying a lot of attention to the Toyota Manufacturing Process that, among other things, revises the supply chain members from a compete by doing what I say to partnering and asking how to make each stage of the process better. Things like designing an an assembly with a "I went to College for this so I know what's best" to going out on the shop floor and asking those that are actually doing the work how to do it better and having a conversation about it. Parts prices were lower, but fair. Everybody's making money and Toyota was nervous because those Chrysler guys were "getting it". The was a huge party at Toyota when Dimler came in and shoved it back to business as usual.

An accurate summary and a good lead in to where some of your Hino engines process's were refined....

"Chrysler began paying a lot of attention to the Toyota Manufacturing Process that, among other things, revises the supply chain members from a compete by doing what I say to partnering and asking how to make each stage of the process better.

Shigeo Shingo's group was instrumental in much of the early development of these Hino's and was part of that Keiretsu which surrounded the early Hino Diesel Motors.

Back then Hino was mostly known as Hino Motors ltd.

[Pcpete]

You should have seen the look on a sheet metal shop owners face when I, leading a team, recommended they move almost every machine in their fairly substantial shop. Then we brought out the "spaghetti chart" where we had mapped the travel through the building, about 10,000 square feet and showed him the parts we randomly chase were traveling eight to ten MILES! With a bit of partnering, a bit of schedule relief and lots of consultation on our part at no cost to him his quality went way up, his costs were down, which I recommended some of which he share with his employees. His net profit on our parts alone increased to the point he was able to produce or parts at bargain prices, and, the part he loved best, his other customers, the beat the lowest price out of the supplier types, were paying a higher price for his parts.

IMO, American Business makes a profit in spite of its best efforts.