The Sleeping Giant Awakens

Automotive Industries, July, 2001

As I'm sure many readers have already done, I spent a recent evening at the movies watching Pearl Harbor, the latest in a long line of cinematic takes on America's greatest naval disaster. As most of its predecessors have done, the film plays loose with the history surrounding the events leading up to the attack, the attack itself, and the ships, aircraft and vehicles used by both sides.

Among the numerous inaccuracies was the quote from Japanese Admiral Yamamoto (last used in Tora Tora, Tora) that he feared, by attacking the United States, Japan had "awakened a sleeping giant" A profound quote, to be sure, but one that reputable naval historians maintain was never uttered by the famous admiral.

While the quote may be erroneous in the World War II context, I believe it's applicable to the current automotive scene. A sleeping giant has indeed awakened, and its name is General Motors.

Three years ago, my friend Jim Harbour made a prediction. Jim, the founder of industry consultants Harbour and Associates, AI columnist, and veteran manufacturing expert, was watching GM re-engineer its global manufacturing operations. He saw a commitment to lean practices and common processes that he believed were more than just talk. He knew about new vehicles and powertrains in the pipeline that were designed for manufacturability, designed to take advantage of the new lean processes. And he recognized the determination of the people putting it together.

"Watch General Motors," Jim told me assertively. "It's going to blow everybody away when it gets these changes up and running."

I was skeptical. The GM I'd watched for years was a big, plodding oaf that was getting pummeled in nearly every measurable area by lean, agile, product-focused competitors. Now, however, Jim's bet is looking wiser by the month. In a growing number of critical business metrics, GM is on a seriously competitive roll. Manufacturing productivity and truck sales are up. The recently published 2001 Harbour Report for North America shows the formerly sleeping giant leading the industry in its rate of overall productivity improvement (a gain of nearly 8.5 percent over 1999). GM'S assembly productivity was up 9.4 percent. Engine making saw a 5.2 percent improvement. Stamping is up 10 percent.

Observes Ron Harbour, "GM made the biggest jump of the U.S. Big 3 and now there is only one hour-per-vehicle difference between Ford and GM. GM is closing the gap dramatically and making it a real dogfight with Ford."

The giant has also awakened in the highly-profitable truck arena, due to excellent products in the T800 full-size family and the new T360 compact SUVs. I rate the latter, with their dynamite Vortec I-6 drive-lines, superior overall to the '02 Explorer. Great product drives sales, and GM's light truck sales volume hit record levels in May. They're now matching truck-sales-juggernaut Ford, a feat that few would have predicted in the recent past.

With its arch rival mired in a nowin war with Firestone and still reeling from recent product quality issues, GM President and CEO Rick Wagoner and his team are turning up the wick. They should be -- GM's North American market share hovers around 28 percent, and Ford, despite its problems, still threatens to capture the World's Biggest Automaker title (if Toyota doesn't get there first). Wagoner knows there is much work to be done in creating great Chevys, Pontiacs, Saturns and Buicks; in restoring Cadillac's stature and revitalizing Opel and Saab; in pushing harder to be first, rather than last, into new market segments; and in translating the immense brainpower of the Tech Center into real-world, affordable features.

Wagoner knows the giant is innovative and clever. He knows it possesses extraordinary design talent. He knows it is capable of building high-quality vehicles people want to buy. It's doing it now, and is now doing it more efficiently each year.

The sleeping giant has awakened. Now let's watch how quickly it moves.

Lindsay Brooke is editor-in-chief of Automotive Industries