The "Job Banks" still requiring manufacturers to pay for non-work.
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/04/post_271.html
The "Job Banks" still requiring manufacturers to pay for non-work.
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/04/post_271.html
You would be surprised at how efficient we have become. The productivity gains over the last 20 years have been nothing less than amazing.
Yes, it only takes 20 hours of labor to assemble an automobile.
In 1990, it took 245,000 workers to assemble 4.5 million cars per year at the big 3.
In 2008 it took about 53,000 to assemble 4.5 million cars.
The cost of labor is no longer the major factor in automobile production. The cost of labor is a part- but there is far more cost in component parts, in steel, in electronics, and other things. Automation does now what assembly line workers used to do for a great deal of the assembly.
If you don't believe the numbers, perhaps you have a source you would like to cite for the number of hours it takes to produce an automobile. I would have thought the New York Times would be sufficient for you. But since you seem to think those numbers are biased, by all means, show me your figures.
As a hobby I do miniature machine work. I have a small lathe and a mill I've converted over to Computer Numeric Control (CNC). So, I know a little bit about making parts and the manufacturing process. For example the dies that are used to make production parts can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and it obviously takes many of them for production runs. Every time they change even the smallest design element they have to design it, engineer it, test it, retool.... The list goes on. This can be seen in the several million dollar price tag of prototypes. And, that's just to build the car, not the infrastructure to build more. I think a lot of the reason cars cost so much is our fault. We all want to drive the latest snazzy model. They change the model every couple of years to keep it 'sexy' for the consumer.
I've often wondered if you could start a branch where you had a completely different philosophy. Start with the principle that you will sell this exact model for 10-15 years minimum. No changes unless required by safety. Kind of like the original volkswagon beetle. They all look the same for decades. Then sell it initially at a loss knowing once you break even the future sales have a higher profit margin. I'll bet they could sell them for $6-$7k and still end up making money. I'm a car guy and love 'sexy' cars, I have one. But I'd pay $7k for my commuter any day.
72Zorad
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