Reporter’s View: My Time On The Line
DETROIT — For the past 15 years, it has been my job to interview UAW line workers during every strike and every twist and turn of that bumpy labor relations ride. One of the first questions I ask is, ‘How long have you been on the line?” as a gauge of their experience. Well, your intrepid Business Editor now can boast a grand total of a half hour of actual line work experience.
Watch:
Reporter’s View: My Time On The Line Today, General Motors and the United Auto Workers put 16 metro Detroit automotive journalists through a bit of a boot camp. We learned how to assemble wooden cars using wooden parts and bolting them down with hand drills. This constitutes the barest bones of auto assembly. We did a mere fraction of what a real assembly plant and assembly workers would do. Mind you, we are newbie’s, not a one of us had ever worked in an assembly plant, some had done fast food work, but other than that we were the greenest of the green. We made it through the class work alright. We moved to the assembly line where we talked through processes, were forced to tell team mates what to do, first in general terms, then in specifics. Everyone had to work each part of this process. Now you’re wondering, perhaps, what I was thinking and how did I do? Well, as member of the Type-A club, I wanted to be the best and do it fastest; a bit of a problem when I jumped ahead of instructions and decided to put my own spin on instructions, usually incorrectly. For me patience was the problem. I wanted to be let loose and found the requirements of working within a very small space doing very specific jobs, in very specific order, a very serious challenge. After our first training period where we learned two different jobs, we were let loose. They ran two shifts of 10 minutes each. Our goal was to build 15 cars with top notch safety, accuracy with no scrap or needless overtime. Well, we make far better journalists than auto workers. In the first two runs we were bumping into each other, bumping cars on the line into each other, we were missing parts, dropping parts, the line slowed and we all backed up and displayed all the grace of the Keystone Cops! In the end we had 25 mistakes and safety problems and built a grand total of NO cars GM would have been able to sell. Back to the classroom! Now, this it is important to spell out here we were set up. The idea is to start with poor performance in order to be able to adjust and make changes. We discussed as a team how to work better and more efficiently. Then out to the line and went back to work. This time we only looked like the Three Stooges. Our goal was to build 10 cars, we built eight! One met the standard to be sold! Whoopee! In the end I learned, as I already knew, these are NOT easy jobs! But it was more than that. I learned no matter how good you are you are only as good as your team. Frankly, I had a good team. We did not contribute much to the serious problems on the line. But even as good as we were, the whole group did not do well and I have no control over any of that! This drove home the point any car company assembly line requires teamwork on the highest level. It is very difficult for me to imagine working in a setting where the quality of my work does not show up in the overall product as my work. Giving in to the team concept on this scale is something I am certain I am not cut out for. I have a renewed respect for line workers. I also have a renewed respect for how difficult it is to run a car company. My biggest take away is this endeavor requires considerable trust. If a company is not spending a lot of time building that trust and ramping up quality, they will get eaten alive by the cut throat competition that exists in the industry. Post bankruptcy, GM clearly understands this now. As our trainer John W. Smith told us, the Lansing Grand River plant came in second in the world a few years ago in the rankings of the best and most efficient auto plants in the world. The next year they raised their quality scores ten full percentage points; and came in seventh in the world. That is no better measure of how tough just getting the cars built is in the world today! This day did open my eyes to some degree. I grew up in a small town out east where my friend’s dads all worked in Jewelry assembly factories. We went on class trips and toured those plants in junior high school. I decided then I would not want to do this kind of work. So, to make the point as clearly and loudy as possible: I LOVE MY JOB! Journalism is tough at times but I’m happy with a microphone or a keyboard in my hands, not a torque wrench! -Rod Meloni, no one’s line worker!-
Reporter’s View: My Time On The Line Today, General Motors and the United Auto Workers put 16 metro Detroit automotive journalists through a bit of a boot camp. We learned how to assemble wooden cars using wooden parts and bolting them down with hand drills. This constitutes the barest bones of auto assembly. We did a mere fraction of what a real assembly plant and assembly workers would do. Mind you, we are newbie’s, not a one of us had ever worked in an assembly plant, some had done fast food work, but other than that we were the greenest of the green. We made it through the class work alright. We moved to the assembly line where we talked through processes, were forced to tell team mates what to do, first in general terms, then in specifics. Everyone had to work each part of this process. Now you’re wondering, perhaps, what I was thinking and how did I do? Well, as member of the Type-A club, I wanted to be the best and do it fastest; a bit of a problem when I jumped ahead of instructions and decided to put my own spin on instructions, usually incorrectly. For me patience was the problem. I wanted to be let loose and found the requirements of working within a very small space doing very specific jobs, in very specific order, a very serious challenge. After our first training period where we learned two different jobs, we were let loose. They ran two shifts of 10 minutes each. Our goal was to build 15 cars with top notch safety, accuracy with no scrap or needless overtime. Well, we make far better journalists than auto workers. In the first two runs we were bumping into each other, bumping cars on the line into each other, we were missing parts, dropping parts, the line slowed and we all backed up and displayed all the grace of the Keystone Cops! In the end we had 25 mistakes and safety problems and built a grand total of NO cars GM would have been able to sell. Back to the classroom! Now, this it is important to spell out here we were set up. The idea is to start with poor performance in order to be able to adjust and make changes. We discussed as a team how to work better and more efficiently. Then out to the line and went back to work. This time we only looked like the Three Stooges. Our goal was to build 10 cars, we built eight! One met the standard to be sold! Whoopee! In the end I learned, as I already knew, these are NOT easy jobs! But it was more than that. I learned no matter how good you are you are only as good as your team. Frankly, I had a good team. We did not contribute much to the serious problems on the line. But even as good as we were, the whole group did not do well and I have no control over any of that! This drove home the point any car company assembly line requires teamwork on the highest level. It is very difficult for me to imagine working in a setting where the quality of my work does not show up in the overall product as my work. Giving in to the team concept on this scale is something I am certain I am not cut out for. I have a renewed respect for line workers. I also have a renewed respect for how difficult it is to run a car company. My biggest take away is this endeavor requires considerable trust. If a company is not spending a lot of time building that trust and ramping up quality, they will get eaten alive by the cut throat competition that exists in the industry. Post bankruptcy, GM clearly understands this now. As our trainer John W. Smith told us, the Lansing Grand River plant came in second in the world a few years ago in the rankings of the best and most efficient auto plants in the world. The next year they raised their quality scores ten full percentage points; and came in seventh in the world. That is no better measure of how tough just getting the cars built is in the world today! This day did open my eyes to some degree. I grew up in a small town out east where my friend’s dads all worked in Jewelry assembly factories. We went on class trips and toured those plants in junior high school. I decided then I would not want to do this kind of work. So, to make the point as clearly and loudy as possible: I LOVE MY JOB! Journalism is tough at times but I’m happy with a microphone or a keyboard in my hands, not a torque wrench! -Rod Meloni, no one’s line worker!-
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