HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY

65 and counting...

It is 66 degrees out and at 7:49 a.m. Patrick and Junior are asleep downstairs and Rm#4 hold two cats and a Boarder.

Junior and I saw the new Indy Jones movie the other day--great to see Karen Allen again--hot as ever!

FROM THE BOX ON INCOMING:

A Japanese company (Toyota ) and an American company (Ford Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.




<>On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.




The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate


the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.





Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering,while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people rowing.





Feeling a deeper study was in order; American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.





They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat,


while not enough people were rowing.





Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent


another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was


totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering


superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.





They also implemented a new performance system t hat would give the 2


people rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called


the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free


pens for the rowers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes


and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The


pension program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the


resultant savings were channeled into morale boosting programs and


teamwork posters.





The next year the Japanese won by two miles.





Humiliated,the American management laid-off one rower, halted


development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled all


capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed


to the Senior Executives as bonuses.





The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was unable to


even finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for


unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next


year's racing team was out-sourced to India.





Sadly, The End.





Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty


years moving all its factories out of the US , c laiming they can't make


money paying American wages.





TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen


plants inside the US . The last quarter's results:





TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in


losses.





Ford folks are still scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses...





IF THIS WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY

go gators