Quote:
Originally Posted by Tcoat
There was a day not too long ago when there was a distinct difference between the quality of Japanese built and NA built cars. And as you said, it was mostly through much greater processes and attention to them that the Japanese had used for a long time. It is only in the last 15 years or so that the NA manufacturers are starting to catch on and use some of the process management tools that the Japanese have used for half a century that we are seeing a huge upswing in the quality of the vehicles made here. The "get 'em on the road now quality be damned" mentality I recall from my early years in the industry has been gone for a while now.
Once the NA companies started embracing such systems as Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma, etc there was a marked increase in quality and productivity. Anybody want to guess where all those systems originated?
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Didn't sigma come from Ancient Greece?
That all said, there are still crap design decisions made in a lot of cars, all to hit a price point. Modern BMWs often have crap trim pieces. The second gen CTS was plastic fantastic in build quality. I test drove a 3-year-old CTS-V with the NA Vette engine. It was about to fall apart. I'm amazed no engine parts fell out as it rattled down the road.
So it's a complex story.