Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2001 15:55:36 GMT From: Just Bob <uctraingnopsamanet.com> Subject: Re: Whats wrong with the V6?
On Sun, 30 Dec 2001 09:29:20 -0500, Curtis L. Russell <sagwagonnopsamatlantic.net> wrote: >A design failure >is ultimately an engineering failure, not an issue of pennies or cost >cutting. Not necessarily. Many design issues are style issues - which does not relate to engineering at all. The engineers built it to do what the designers asked - it was just what they asked that was wrong. That's not to say that American auto manufacturing is not littered with engineering failures due to designs that didn't work, or engineering that didn't work in production (or maybe even in prototype, who knows). Sometimes the design is fine, the engineering is fine, but the marketing team just missed it ie Saab, which is a love-it-or-leave-it type of car. I like 'em, you like 'em, but the public is not thrilled. But the actual problem at American manufacturers is much bigger. The problem is that of age old management with hundreds of little ants scrambling for their piece of the management pie by hook or by crook. Decisions are made based on how a particular individual might get ahead, and rewards are based on "who knows who", or "who helped who", not who does what best. It drives from the top, where the Board itself engages in petty wars of upsmanship, and it is driven down from there. Bob
