Auto Industry

U.S. Auto Industry

Ahipo Doualehi

Mark Romejko

MBA 505 : Organizational Systems Management

August 8, 2010

In reviewing the article, U.S. Automotive Crisis: Lessons and prospects - preserving the old design concept backfired by Fujimoto Takahiro, Takahiro explains several concepts of the automaker industry. These concepts include the architecture style of the body on frame by U.S. producers, the compact architecture style of the Japanese producers, and the poor management style decisions of the U.S. automakers. I will compare the U.S. and Japanese styles of production to explain how U.S. automakers failed to implement needed changes in their organizations.

The large truck production started in 1908 in Ford industry’s creating the Model T and continued in the U.S. auto making industry. This production design style consisted of the body-on-frame concept (Takahiro, 2009). This simplistic style caused U.S. automakers to thrive in the auto industry. Not only did U.S. keep this simple design, but also allowed automakers like Chevrolet and GM to produce larger vehicles in the late 1970’s (Takahiro, 2009). Why was this simplistic style a large success? With the use of mass production, interchangeable parts, special purpose machinery, and vertical integration the U.S. automakers made large revenues from their products. Along with the increased flow of immigrants into the U.S., automakers took advantage of human resources without integrating an unfamiliar process for vehicle production or development of vehicles for future usage (Takahiro, 2009). Nevertheless, the process of production millions of products for worked well for automakers in times past, but failed to give way to current and economical changes.

The U.S. automakers created customer loyalty by increasing the level of technology inside of U.S. vehicles. This concept did not interfere with the mass production component of the industry, but placed a greater need for engineer’s...