Woman Sends Crude Message After Pay Error

Source AP

Woman Sends Crude Message After Pay Error

37 minutes ago

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - Kootenai County commissioners have suspended a public defender who allegedly sent them a crude message in a greeting card about a mistake in her pay increase.

Public defender Linda Payne delivered the missive after the county miscalculated pay benefits and told county attorneys they could expect about $5,000 more per year than was actually approved — then retracted it the next day.

Payne's hand-delivered greeting card was accompanied by a jar of petroleum jelly and a tube of red lipstick.

"The next time you choose to give us something please lubricate and/or kiss first," she wrote in the June 9 note.

Read More Here

NPR and PBS are in Trouble

Dear MoveOn member,

You know that email petition that keeps circulating
about how Congress is slashing funding for NPR and
PBS? Well, now it's actually true. (Really. Check the
footnotes if you don't believe us.)

A House panel has voted to eliminate all public
funding for NPR and PBS, starting with "Sesame
Street," "Reading Rainbow," and other commercial-free
children's shows. If approved, this would be the most
severe cut in the history of public broadcasting,
threatening to pull the plug on Big Bird, Cookie
Monster and Oscar the Grouch.

Sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and
PBS:

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?id=5663-1523677-EMNpO7bXxfOAXQaL4Vqyvw&t=3

If we can reach 250,000 signatures by the end of the
week, we'll put Congress on notice. After you sign the
petition, please pass this message along to any
friends, neighbors or co-workers who count on NPR and
PBS.

OHSAS 18001:Health and Safety Standard

Source: Quality Digest

by Roderick A. Munro, Ph.D., and William J. Luka

As anyone working in the United States knows, occupational health and safety is highly regulated in many industries. There are so many local, state, and national laws and regulations that it's difficult to keep them all straight. We even find conflicting compliance issues that are virtually impossible to resolve. This might be one reason why many Americans haven't heard much about the British Standards Institute's new standard, Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001. However, it will likely become important for any manager who's concerned about employee health and safety.

This article looks at OHSAS 18001 and its possible applications in the United States.

Demand rising for employees

Source: Crain's Detroit

Demand rising for employees, staffing firm says

By Sherri Begin
June 14, 2005 5:10 PM

Demand for employees in the Detroit area, specifically in automotive-related industries, is up, according to a report released by staffing firm Adecco Staffing USA.

The company said it is seeing an increase in hiring by vehicle manufacturers and automotive parts makers, primarily on the production, maintenance and quality-inspection sides, Detroit Area Branch Manager Barry Gray said in a release.

Scandal-ridden automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

Source: Japan Times

MMC hit sales target -- by selling to own dealers

Scandal-ridden automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. inflated its new vehicle sales figures in Japan in the last business year by selling about 10 percent to dealers instead of consumers, industry sources said Friday.

MMC managed to clear its domestic sales target of 220,000 in fiscal 2004 by selling about 227,000 vehicles. But nearly 20,000 of them are believed to have been purchased by affiliated dealers, the sources said, raising the possibility the sales target was not truly achieved.

A MMC spokesman denied the allegation.

"We've never forced our sales affiliates to purchase our vehicles to achieve a sales target," he claimed.

Ford recalls nearly 260,000 trucks, SUVs, vans

Source: Detroit News

Monday, June 13, 2005

Ford recalls nearly 260,000 trucks, SUVs, vans

Reuters

Ford Motor Co. is recalling nearly 260,000 vehicles, most of them large pickup trucks, to fix safety defects that include sudden stalling of diesel engines, U.S. federal safety regulators said on Monday.

Hertz IPO (AP)

Industry

Source (AP)

• Ford Says Hertz to Pursue $100 Million IPO AP

  DEARBORN, Mich. - Ford Motor Co., racked by financial problems and a credit downgrade, said Monday its Hertz Corp. car rental unit has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering.

• 
  Ford to spin off car rental unit Hertz AFP - 2 hours, 13 minutes ago

  DEARBORN, United States (AFP) - Struggling US auto group Ford Motor Co. said it would spin off car rental unit Hertz after a share offering for the division is completed.

Autoline Detroit This Week An in-depth discussion and analysis of the recent GM announcement regarding consolidation of divisions and product lines.

Autoline Detroit:
A half hour discussion program hosted by industry observer and expert John McElroy. John moderates a panel of reporters as they discuss the week's news and interview a top industry insider.

Email From John McElroy @ Autoline Detroit

This email edited for privacy

John McElroy <********************> wrote:

Ian,

Thanks for turning us on to your website. Very up-to-date, with good
information. Congratulations!

John McElroy
Blue Sky Productions
39201 *****************
******, MI ******

T: ***-***-****
M:***-***-****

UAW President Gettelfinger on GM Request to Give Concessions

Press Release

Source: Newsweek

NEWSWEEK: UAW President Gettelfinger on GM Request to Give Concessions on Benefits: 'If We Don't Fix Some of the Basic Problems That Exist When It Comes to the Product, ...No Matter What We Did, It Wouldn't Be Enough. Ever.'
Sunday June 12, 12:19 pm ET

Says the Company Has Some Issues, But He 'Wouldn't Rate It as a Crisis'

NEW YORK, June 12 /PRNewswire/ -- United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger tells Newsweek that although GM CEO Rick Wagoner says the automaker's turnaround is threatened by accelerating health-care costs, there's more to be done than just give concessions on the medical benefits. "If we don't fix some of the basic problems that exist when it comes to the product," Gettelfinger says in the current issue, "then it seems to me that no matter what we did, it wouldn't be enough. Ever."

The Rust Belt Definition From Wikipedia

Rust Belt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Rust Belt, highlighted in red

"The Rust Belt, also known as the Manufacturing Belt, is an area in the northeastern and north-central United States whose economy was formerly based largely on heavy industry, manufacturing, and associated industries. This area is roughly defined as comprising the northern sections of Indiana and Ohio; the northeastern corner of Illinois; the Lower Peninsula of Michigan; the Lake Michigan shoreline"

Find More Here

Visteon doubletalk

Source: Detroit News

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Visteon doubletalk irks autoworkers, undermines trust

By Daniel Howes / The Detroit News

"They said they were in danger of being unable to pay their bills, but their CEO publicly denied that Visteon Corp. ever seriously considered filing for bankruptcy.

They said they couldn't be competitive paying Big Three wages and benefits to their union work force, even as they shelled out $3 million to sign a new chief operating officer and much more in retention bonuses to keep officers from bolting.

They said they needed a deal"

www.detnews.com

Can the Midwest ward off a Rust Belt slump?

Source: Detroit News

Saturday, June 4, 2005

Can the Midwest ward off a Rust Belt slump?

By Dee-Ann Durbin / AP Auto Writer

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., the nation's two biggest automakers, ordered fresh production cutbacks this week after they again lost business and valuable market share to Asian rivals in May. Some of their key suppliers have seen orders dwindle so much they've had to declare bankruptcy.

Add to that Friday's news of fewer jobs in the U.S. manufacturing sector as a whole, and it raises a disturbing question: Could the Midwest be falling back into the Rust Belt malaise of the early 1980s, when Michigan's unemployment rate topped 16 percent and GM, the world's largest automaker, saw its market share tumble nearly 10 percentage points?

Ward's Reports Estimated Production

Source: Ward's Automotive Reports

Ward's Reports Estimated Production
Friday June 10, 1:26 pm ET

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Vehicle production this week in the U.S., Canada and Mexico is expected to hit an estimated 348,038 units, up 15.4 percent from the 301,656 cars and trucks built last week, according to WardsAuto.com

Auto suppliers feel carmakers' pain

By Sharon Silke Carty, USA TODAY Wed May 18, 6:31 AM ET

Automotive supplier Collins & Aikman filed for bankruptcy-court protection Tuesday, evidence that financial troubles at the automakers are having a rapid and dramatic effect on the companies that make car parts. A May 5 decision by Standard & Poor's to downgrade General Motors and Ford Motor to junk bond status had little near-term impact on the carmakers, but automotive suppliers are suddenly facing a cash crunch that could put their very existence at risk.

Collins & Aikman, for one, said last week that the move trimmed its available credit line by $70 million. By seeking bankruptcy court protection, the supplier was able to secure a $300 million debtor-in-possession loan from J.P. Morgan.

Read More Here

Auto parts makers relations with GM worsen-study

From Reuters.com - No Spin. No Agenda. Just the Facts. As they happen.

Auto parts makers relations with GM worsen-study

Tue May 31, 2005 06:50 AM ET

By David Bailey

CHICAGO, May 31 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp.'s (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) relationships with its U.S. parts suppliers, never particularly cordial, have worsened, a study released Tuesday has found.

Suppliers gave GM, struggling to stem market share losses, lower marks for timely and candid talks with parts makers than last year, according to the annual study by consulting firm Planning Perspectives Inc.

"General Motors' supplier working relationships are now clearly and unequivocally the worst they have ever been," study author John Henke told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"The level of trust that suppliers have of General Motors is at the lowest we have seen in 15 years of doing this," said Henke, chief executive of Planning Perspectives.

Read More Here

The demise of Michigan's wire harness industry

From: The Detroit News

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Driven Abroad

The demise of Michigan's wire harness industry is a global tale of economic survival and the endless quest for cheap labor

One Michigan company. One auto part. Four countries. Thousands of lives forever changed.;

By Ron French / The Detroit News

Huang Wei's future and Deb Coverdill's past are linked by a bundle of color-coded wires.

Coverdill had seen hundreds of co-workers laid off and machinery shipped overseas from her automotive wire harness plant in Michigan. In October, Coverdill's plant was for sale and her job in jeopardy.

More from this article

Production Mind

Hey how's your product quality??

How bout your production??

I am mystified by the deliniation between quality and production.

Tell me why we inspect quality into a part instead of manufacturing it into the part.


What is up with that..........

The Cost of Quality

From: Quality Digest

Quality Management
Cost of Quality Revisited
by A. Blanton Godfrey

Perhaps it is time we rethought
the cost of quality concept.

Nearly 50 years ago, a new concept was introduced into quality management: the cost of quality. For many years, this concept has been used to identify opportunities for significant savings. Increasingly, though, leading quality professionals argue that the original ideas have outlived their usefulness and it is time we rethought the whole idea.

Two basic ideas have been used for these many decades. The first is the idea of an optimum quality level, which is the point when total quality costs are minimized. The second is the characterization of quality costs into four parts: prevention, appraisal, internal failure and external failure.

Cost of Quality Article


This is an illusive measure. What are the tangible aspects of the cost of quality??

Many feel it is the defect rate that comes out the end of the process. This is a true statement however can the tangable cost be driven upstream?

At what point is the defect introduced into the process. I think many recordable defects are introduced by the system as well as the people. The do not pass it on concept may be one way to detect and remove the added defect. What can we do to bring the culture to the level of in process inspection??

The employee driven kiazan can also assist in reduction of handling and systemic defects.

When will we get to this point??

What are your thoughts?

Ford Citizenship

From: Ford Motor Company

Suppliers

Suppliers are an integral part of our business, and our success is interdependent with theirs. We rely on more than 2,000 production suppliers to provide many of the parts that are assembled into Ford vehicles. Another 9,000 suppliers provide a wide range of nonproduction goods and services, from production equipment to computers to advertising.



Environmental Management and Human Rights

It is important that our suppliers share our commitment to corporate citizenship. In 2003, we concluded a four-year joint effort aimed at extending the ISO 14001 environmental management standard throughout our supply base. Nearly all of Ford’s Q1 production suppliers worldwide have now achieved ISO 14001 certification. We also extended to our suppliers the Code of Basic Working Conditions that was adopted in 2003.

These standards for environmental management and human rights are an integral part of revised terms and conditions for production suppliers that became effective in January 2004 and are employed throughout our global supply base. Similar requirements will be integrated into the updated terms and conditions (currently being drafted) for nonproduction suppliers.

More on this topic