Greg Hart of Calgary responds to Saturday’s Globe and Mail piece on Ontario’s economic future:
CAW economist Jim Stanford disputes Richard Florida’s assertion that creativity by front-line workers is at least partly responsible for Toyota’s success (Ontariowe – Focus, March 21). He says that Mr. Florida’s line of thinking “reveals a complete ignorance of how the auto industry actually works.” Perhaps Mr. Stanford, in his humans-as-robots description of how things “actually” work on the shop floor, has unwittingly revealed a key reason for the decline of his industry while giving little hope for a turnaround. Companies that treat humans as machines are doomed, and it’s not so much fun for the humans who work there either.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I think Mr. Stanford is probably not the best individual to make such assertions. His job is to protect what was once there, not exactly create anything new for his own constituency. After reading his full remarks, I wonder if he’s even read how Toyota works. Their method *is* creative but not in the way that Stanford seems to define it. Somewhat sad commentary on his part as to what’s going on in the North American auto industry.
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:55 pm
If only companies that treat humans as machines, and replaceable ones at that, actually WERE doomed. But they’re not. And very few of them are factories, really.
March 28th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
It amazes me that American automakers still do not understand that they are falling because of their inability to take advantage of the creativity of front line workers. Jim Stanford comments reveal the belief that Toyota’s success comes from its superior design and engineering:
“Toyota’s success as a global economy does indeed reflect creative work, but by and large it’s the engineers and product designers, almost all of whom are in Japan …”
Arguably, American car design is as good as or better than Japanese car design. The weaknesses of American automakers have been in understanding the changing needs of the market and in achieving high quality. Toyota was able to improve quality and reduce costs by giving more control and decision-making power to factory floor workers, who know most about the process of assembling cars. Although these workers have repetitive and predictable jobs, they are creative because of the enhanced cognitive element. If American automakers had understood this even a couple years ago maybe they’d be focused on selling cars right now as opposed to getting government bailouts.