Naturally the subject of motor industry jobs came up at the annul Traverse City Management Briefing Seminars. According to The Car Connection (TCC) website, it was the old debate: are job cuts actually good for the economy?
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TCC said Dr. David Cole, director of the Centre for Automotive Research, reckons there is a positive side to ongoing job losses because competitive pressures have forced car makers and their suppliers to become more efficient.
TCC said that Cole pointed out that, where a lean plant used to take 25 hours to build a car, Nissan now needs as little as 16 at its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant, and such rapidly rising productivity is “insurance” that manufacturing won’t flee overseas.
“We’re in a very rapid process of redefining work,” Cole told TheCarConnection, “and that means fewer people.”
The website said his optimism is a source of debate among the industry leaders and others assembled for the annual seminars – Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm called for a national dialogue on the decline in US manufacturing.
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By GlobalDataThe Car Connection noted that, in some cases, jobs are being lost to cost-cutting – Dana Corporation upping its planned workforce reduction from 15 to 20%, for example – and, even where manufacturers aren’t making cuts, it’s clear there are fewer opportunities than ever for job growth.
TCC said Delphi is one of many suppliers that intends to supply its foreign customers locally, rather than exporting from the US Wages are certainly a factor, the website said, as the car parts maker pays $US30 an hour in the US compared with only $1.53 in China.
But “There are other things that can be far more important than piece costs,” an industry executive told The Car Connection, such as meeting tight just-in-time delivery schedules.
