My Years With General Motors

A distinction should be made between the expansion itself and the need for organization which grew out of it.

To economize we coordinated to a greater extent our work in purchasing, design, production, and selling, and some of these changes were of lasting value.

I therefore reactivated the Operations Committee and had placed on it all the general operating officers on the Executive Committee and the general managers of the principal divisions, thus making it the major point of regular contact between the two types of executives. The Operations Committee was not a policy-making body but a forum for the disc

We had learned from experience that wars create a backlog of unsatisfied demand.

His precious volume, which was the foundation of his position, was fast disappearing. He could not continue losing sales and maintain his profits. And so, for engineering and market reasons, the Model T fell. And yet not many observers expected so catastrophic and almost whimsical a fall as Mr. Ford chose to take in May 1927 when he shut down his g

Third, a large number of parts and supplies to be purchased had no common denominator. They were special items applicable to a particular engineering concept. Therefore, I think the General Purchasing Committee itself cannot be cited as an unqualified success. It caused us, however, to make a strong effort to standardize articles where possible. Th

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

Several kinds of economies are made possible by centralized staff operations. Among the most important are the economies that derive from the coordination of the divisions. These arise through the sharing of ideas and developments among general officers and divisional personnel. The divisions contribute ideas and techniques both to each other and t

Furthermore, it became increasingly clear that General Motors could not employ its mass-production techniques effectively in the airframe industry. We decided, therefore, that it would be in the best interests of both General Motors and North American to dispose of our holdings in the company at some appropriate time.