RE: [OT] Westmoreland products... Re: [OT] FINALLY!

["Aaron Ness" <aaron@makuta.com>]

> reputation for a decent price.  All of this to explain that Mexico is
> Mexico, Europe is Europe, and the U.S. is the U.S.  All have different
> standards whether we like it or not.  Granted, VWs made in
> the U.S. today
> are better built, but look at the other cars in the early
> 80s!!  There was
> quite a push to cut costs not only with VW but pretty much accross the
> board!!

What VWs are made in the US today?  I wasn't aware of any.

Regarding the push to cut costs, this is how the automotive industry works.
The OEMs require their suppliers to continually "improve" their prices.  I
can't speak for German carmakers, but typically Japanese carmakers are more
inclined to work with their suppliers and esstablish a real relationship
with them, realizing that the end result is a supplier who wants to work
with them long-term.

OTOH, American carmakers tend to be inclined to shove cost reductions down
their suppliers' throats, leaving it up to the supplier to take a cut in
profit or figure out how to make it cheaper while maintaining quality.
Perfect example: the recent announcement by DC that all suppliers will
accept a 5% across-the-board cost reduction.  GM learned the hard way that
this doesn't work when czar Lopez was head of purchasing, but apparently DC
is too blind or stupid to look at that.  "Didn't work for them, but it will
work for us even though we're not changing anything."  ???

Sorry for the little rant; I'm just waiting to see how bad the quality of
cars gets over the next 10 years or so.  I promise it won't get better
unless the OEMs seriously rethink their cost-reduction policies.  Right now,
they typically want the suppliers to weather the effects of a slowdown in
the market.

Aaron
'87 528e
'82 Scirocco
'70 Beetle
'87 Jeep Cherokee 4.0


--
Email LIST problems to: scirocco-l-probs@scirocco.org.
To unsubscibe send "unsubscribe scirocco-l" in the message to majordomo@scirocco.org