My Years With General Motors

The significant influence of the copper-cooled engine was in what it taught us about the value of organized cooperation and coordination in engineering and other matters. It showed the need to make an effective distinction between divisional and corporate functions in engineering, and also between advanced product engineering and long-range researc

An administration may also be measured by the caliber of the men brought in or retained by it.

“When your competitors follow you, that’s the medal in business.”

The language of organization has always suffered some want of words to express the true facts and circumstances of human interaction. One usually asserts one aspect or another of it at different times, such as the absolute independence of the part, and again the need of coordination, and again the concept of the whole with a guiding center. Interac

[It] Increases the morale of the organization by placing each operation on its own foundation, making it feel that it is a part of the Corporation, assuming its own responsibility and contributing its share to the final result.

From the standpoint of the dealer’s convenience and the most economical control of finished-goods inventory, the factory should have varied its output to conform to seasonal demand. Such a practice would have reduced the risk of obsolescence and the cost of storing finished products for both dealer and manufacturer. On the other hand, absolutely le

Uniformity is essential to financial control, since without it comparisons are difficult if not impossible.

I have described how he had been out of General Motors for a number of years and was about to return at that time as president. I found Mr. Durant a very persuasive man, soft-spoken and ingratiating. He was short, conservatively and immaculately dressed, and had an air of being permanently calm — though he was continuously involved in big and compl

The air-cooled engine offered an attractive prospect. It would get rid of the cumbersome radiator and plumbing system of the water-cooled engine and promised to reduce the number of parts in the engine, its weight, and its cost, and at the same time to improve engine performance. If it fulfilled all these promises it would indeed revolutionize the