NUMMI Story on This American Life

I have been following the NUMMI plant (in Fremont California) in a haphazard way since it was opened as joint venture by Toyota and GM in the 1980s.  I have visited a few times and talked to lots of folks from GM, Toyota, and NUMMI since its inception.  As most of you probably know, the plant is closing on April 1.  It is just a shame for many reasons, the jobs lost, the failure of GM to learn what they should have from the joint venture, the feelings of helplessness and on and on.

If you want to learn about the plant's history from its birth to (nearly) its death, check out the astounding episode of This American Life, a compelling tale of how it went from the worst of the worst GM plants (drug use and drinking were routine on the line, and you could buy sex in the plant -- and the quality and cost numbers were awful), to how Toyota started the NUMMI plant (the only unionized Toyota plant in the country) with a workforce composed (85%) of the same people who worked at that awful plant, how they retrained them in Japan, how these same workers once put in a different system started making some of the highest quality cars in the U.S. -- even the world --  from the day the plant opened, to all the twists and turns including how Toyota itself is repeating some of the same mistakes that nearly killed GM, and onto the near final sadness.

I am a big fan of This American Life and I think this is one of their best episodes ever.  The lessons about the power of a good -- versus a lousy -- system are especially compelling, as is the rather pathetic tale of GM's inability to learn from NUMMI.  Their quality still trails behind most of the rest of the world now, over 25 years since the NUMMI plant opened.

Fascinating stuff. I will start assigning this episode to my classes, there are so many great lessons and it is so emotionally compelling.

Comments

[Kathryn Billington]

Hi Bob,
I heard this on NPR too and thought it was an outstanding program. I just stumbled across it, listening to the NPR stream on my laptop while cooking dinner here in Switzerland. It made me think of you & among other things, my research visits to 7-eleven many years ago. Then I was trying to track down your email address and ended up here on your blog referencing the same program. Small world. Hope everything's ok --- I'm sending another of your former students your way with a question about a reference - watch for an email from Leigh ...
Take care & Corey will be in touch with you soon, if he hasn't already.

[David B. Cohen]

Bob - I love your blog, and always find useful ideas to apply to education. Thinking about how Nummi improved by retraining rather than mass firings, and wondering why politicians think it makes sense to fire an entire school staff when performance isn't up to expectations. If the districts and states invested properly in improving conditions, support, training, and proper evaluation, then don't you expect they would see improvements, and also be better equipped to make informed decisions about staffing? "Fire everyone" is just plain stupid.

[Tracy Z]

My Human Resources Management Class read a few pages from your book today and the prof posted a link to your blog. Just wanted to say, thanks to you, 80 business students pledged not to be assholes where ever they go!

[Ajo Cherian]

I'm sad the plant is closing. I have wanted to take the free tour of the plant ever since I moved to the west coast.