GM 1500/Tahoe recall. Not good.

[goducks10]

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2014/05/recall-alert-2014-chevrolet-silverado-and-gmc-sierra-2015-chevr...

Fortunately it's not that many.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

Got to say Terry it sure would be nice to run like that. I work in the gage lab and have had some very heated discussions with a few of our management. I have known our plant manager for 15 years and when I send him an e-mail things usually happen. I have been threatened to be walked out by a few stupidvisers. I just look them dead in the eye and tell them I can use a paid vacation, lets do it. But no vacations for me :W .

I get the whole we have to make rate, but at what cost? Every time you have to run a part back through and machine you have lost 2 parts! The part you are handled the second time, then the part that you should be running!

Just shut the machine down and fix it for goodness sake. But oh no that would cause downtime and downtime is bad!, but re-running parts is not bad?

I guess I just don't understand the workings of a modern business model, like these guys and gals with their fancy degrees and such.

Don

[Terryallan]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
Terry I can assure you that most all of the workers want to build a good product.

However until quality takes precedence over product out the back door, we are going to continue to see this. It is Management that is calling the shots not the workers.

I have been told by area managers that they will sign off on a calibration so the line does not shut down. Managers receive quarterly bonuses for meeting production quotas and larger bonuses for exceeding them. Think they want to lose 10 to fifteen minutes of production for quality calibration? Nope no way, no how, not today mister. Go calibrate someone elses machine, I'll sign your damn book. Now go away! I found a way around this, I send out E-mails listing the line and machine or gages signed off on and send it to all the upper management. Very seldom do I get turned away anymore, get a lot of nasty looks however. But it works for me and my fellow workers.

BTW tame thing happens at GM and Ford day in day out. The Japs are not any different either.

Don

May be the way it works for you. But not for us. All I have to do to stop production is to say my gages are out of calibration. Our gages are not signed off by managers. they are only signed off by the gage lab. OR I can say. I need to gage the lapper, or tester. And in fact. I can say the pattern does not look good to me, and stop the works until it does. Our name is on every part we make. So that if it is wrong. They know who to come see. And if they come see you a couple times. You don't make any more parts. At least not for them.

Of course we have to make production. But our management knows that it is better to make 50 good units, than 100 bad ones. Our failure rate, or PPM is right around 9. Management likes that. GM likes it, Ford likes it as do BMW, Chrysler, And Massaritte. Prolly didn't spell that right.

Bottom line. It costs more to do it wrong than to do it right.

[lbrjet]

Don, glad your boss told the truth. Kudos to her. Keep up the good work.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

I agree with both of you Mich and Gypsy but check this out.

Last Sunday I took a machine down to change an expired calibration bottle(calibration out of date). I found the o-ring was cut and went to get a replacement. When I got back the area manager was waiting for me and started yelling at me wanting to know why this wasn't done on days and who was I to take a machine off line without informing him. I told him that the gage tech that was working on days was not familiar with the procedure and I was instructed to change it at the start of my shift.

My direct supervisor called me at home on Monday telling me that the area manager e-mailed her, telling her to write me up and give me ten days off for causing 35 minutes of lost production. She responded that, she had given me a direct order to change the bottle and if anyone was getting anytime off for it, it would be her! Well her boss the head of Quality was copied on her e-mail along with others. Well about 2 hours into my shift the area manager comes up to me and apologizes for being an a$$.

BTW my supervisor is only one of about a couple of supervisors that would back their employees and takes a lot of heat for it. To bad she is not the norm. Shut a line down at an assembly plant and you're going to be walked out the gate and not for 3 or ten days either. You have to tag the vehicle and it gets repaired later. More than three tags in 30 days from the same worker and you get time off. First time you get three days. If it happens again within 12 months you get ten days, then 30 and then you're fired. BTW those are rolling 12 months from the last infraction.

The pace at an assembly plant is such that for every 30 workers hired only ten make it past 30 days and out of those only one will make it to the magical 90 days and get hired. You are not protected by the union during your probation time and NO temporary part timers or vacation replacements are protected by the union either.

All for the very low wage of $14 to start and you top out at just over $20 per hour. It takes four long years to get to the top. To give you an idea of how poor their pay is, when I hired in at Chrysler my starting pay was $13.90 in 1999! So in fifteen year new hires are starting at the same wage an top out four years later less then I would have topped out had I stayed in production. Kind of sad, no wonder kids today can't buy a new car let alone own a house and raise a family. This is the first generation in these United States that the next generation will be worse off than the last.

OK rant over you can return to bashing GM for having some recalls.

Don

[spoon059]

catfishmontana wrote:

Ric Flair wrote:
This recall doesn't affect tow vehicles

The OP recall is half ton pickups and tahoes.

According to some on here, half tons are only grocery getters...

[catfishmontana]

Ric Flair wrote:
This recall doesn't affect tow vehicles

The OP recall is half ton pickups and tahoes.

[Ric_Flair]

This recall doesn't affect tow vehicles

[fla-gypsy]

mich800 wrote:

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:

mich800 wrote:

The last I seen the line workers all get profit sharing checks. There are always two sides to the story. Yep we got 1,500 last year a far cry from the bonuses the big boys pull down.

Of course, I suppose we could assume the line workers are not intelligent enough to know the more vehicles they put out the the higher the potential profit and they are all just patsies with no control of their actions and just putting out substandard work because they don't know better. Plus, they now own the company.
Sorry but you should stop listening to Fox News. Again for the slow kid, everyone on the line understands we have to sell quality cars to keep our jobs. The people that do not understand this are the management, supervisors to area managers. They have to account for every minute of downtime. They could care less if they build a quality vehicle or not. They only care that they hit or exceed their shift numbers. Good or bad makes no difference to them. You don't build 477 vehicles with "The tie rod threaded attachment to the steering gear rack in these vehicles may not be tightened to specification." unless every day MANAGEMENT did not allow the inspection check. /the other thing is the of calibration on the torque wrench was out of date.

As I said if they don't let me do my cals they have to sign off "Production refuses calibration. Date and time" Then and e-mail is sent to my boss, the head of quality, the three assistant plant managers and the plant manager. I'm the only Tool and Gage Tech that does this, but if $hit hits the fan the head hunters are not going to fire me, they are going to fire the clowns that caused the problem.

The point is there are no entirely innocent parties and no one side is 100% responsible. It is easy for those in your position to point the finger at management and just the same for people from my background to do the same the other way. That is because we take our jobs personal and perform them with ethics and hard work. But there are enough bad seeds on all levels to kill a company if left unchecked. I will leave it at that.

X2. I work in a manufacturing facility in management(not auto industry) and every person on the production line has been instructed by the Plant management over and over to shut the thing down rather than make "bad product" but it never happens because those empowered to do it want to run to management first and ask "if it's alright" because they do not want to make a decision even when they know it is the right one and there is no repercussion for doing it. Don't give me that it's all managements fault BS because someone is afraid to use their brain and do the right thing. I don't need Fox news, any other media outlet, or a Union mouthpiece to tell me what to think. I have worked both sides and know both sides of the equation.

[mich800]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:

mich800 wrote:

The last I seen the line workers all get profit sharing checks. There are always two sides to the story. Yep we got 1,500 last year a far cry from the bonuses the big boys pull down.

Of course, I suppose we could assume the line workers are not intelligent enough to know the more vehicles they put out the the higher the potential profit and they are all just patsies with no control of their actions and just putting out substandard work because they don't know better. Plus, they now own the company.
Sorry but you should stop listening to Fox News. Again for the slow kid, everyone on the line understands we have to sell quality cars to keep our jobs. The people that do not understand this are the management, supervisors to area managers. They have to account for every minute of downtime. They could care less if they build a quality vehicle or not. They only care that they hit or exceed their shift numbers. Good or bad makes no difference to them. You don't build 477 vehicles with "The tie rod threaded attachment to the steering gear rack in these vehicles may not be tightened to specification." unless every day MANAGEMENT did not allow the inspection check. /the other thing is the of calibration on the torque wrench was out of date.

As I said if they don't let me do my cals they have to sign off "Production refuses calibration. Date and time" Then and e-mail is sent to my boss, the head of quality, the three assistant plant managers and the plant manager. I'm the only Tool and Gage Tech that does this, but if $hit hits the fan the head hunters are not going to fire me, they are going to fire the clowns that caused the problem.

The point is there are no entirely innocent parties and no one side is 100% responsible. It is easy for those in your position to point the finger at management and just the same for people from my background to do the same the other way. That is because we take our jobs personal and perform them with ethics and hard work. But there are enough bad seeds on all levels to kill a company if left unchecked. I will leave it at that.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

mich800 wrote:

The last I seen the line workers all get profit sharing checks. There are always two sides to the story. Yep we got 1,500 last year a far cry from the bonuses the big boys pull down.

Of course, I suppose we could assume the line workers are not intelligent enough to know the more vehicles they put out the the higher the potential profit and they are all just patsies with no control of their actions and just putting out substandard work because they don't know better. Plus, they now own the company.
Sorry but you should stop listening to Fox News. Again for the slow kid, everyone on the line understands we have to sell quality cars to keep our jobs. The people that do not understand this are the management, supervisors to area managers. They have to account for every minute of downtime. They could care less if they build a quality vehicle or not. They only care that they hit or exceed their shift numbers. Good or bad makes no difference to them. You don't build 477 vehicles with "The tie rod threaded attachment to the steering gear rack in these vehicles may not be tightened to specification." unless every day MANAGEMENT did not allow the inspection check. /the other thing is the of calibration on the torque wrench was out of date.

As I said if they don't let me do my cals they have to sign off "Production refuses calibration. Date and time" Then and e-mail is sent to my boss, the head of quality, the three assistant plant managers and the plant manager. I'm the only Tool and Gage Tech that does this, but if $hit hits the fan the head hunters are not going to fire me, they are going to fire the clowns that caused the problem.

[mich800]

spoon059 wrote:

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
However until quality takes precedence over product out the back door, we are going to continue to see this. It is Management that is calling the shots not the workers.

Don

You are 100% right. The emphasis now a days is getting the job DONE. Not getting it done RIGHT... just getting it DONE. Mgmt is rewarded for getting a certain number of cars out the door. Unfortunately, mgmt. isn't held to task to explain why the are hemorrhaging money recalling vehicles to fix stuff that should have never been wrong to begin with.

There is no incentive for the line worker to rattle the cage and alert upper mgmt. to the problems. In fact, its probably hazardous to your employment to rattle the cage too much.

The last I seen the line workers all get profit sharing checks. There are always two sides to the story. Of course, I suppose we could assume the line workers are not intelligent enough to know the more vehicles they put out the the higher the potential profit and they are all just patsies with no control of their actions and just putting out substandard work because they don't know better. Plus, they now own the company.

[spoon059]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
However until quality takes precedence over product out the back door, we are going to continue to see this. It is Management that is calling the shots not the workers.

Don

You are 100% right. The emphasis now a days is getting the job DONE. Not getting it done RIGHT... just getting it DONE. Mgmt is rewarded for getting a certain number of cars out the door. Unfortunately, mgmt. isn't held to task to explain why the are hemorrhaging money recalling vehicles to fix stuff that should have never been wrong to begin with.

There is no incentive for the line worker to rattle the cage and alert upper mgmt. to the problems. In fact, its probably hazardous to your employment to rattle the cage too much.

[spoon059]

dodge guy wrote:
How many times can one say "my bad"?

When the government bails you out and you have a brand loyal customer base, you can do it quite often...

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

Terry I can assure you that most all of the workers want to build a good product.

However until quality takes precedence over product out the back door, we are going to continue to see this. It is Management that is calling the shots not the workers.

I have been told by area managers that they will sign off on a calibration so the line does not shut down. Managers receive quarterly bonuses for meeting production quotas and larger bonuses for exceeding them. Think they want to lose 10 to fifteen minutes of production for quality calibration? Nope no way, no how, not today mister. Go calibrate someone elses machine, I'll sign your damn book. Now go away! I found a way around this, I send out E-mails listing the line and machine or gages signed off on and send it to all the upper management. Very seldom do I get turned away anymore, get a lot of nasty looks however. But it works for me and my fellow workers.

BTW tame thing happens at GM and Ford day in day out. The Japs are not any different either.

Don

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

mockturtle wrote:

The Fix: Customers should have their vehicles taken by flatbed tow truck to their dealer, where the inner tie rods will be inspected for correct torque, and, if necessary, the steering gear will be replaced.

Yeah, right!

RECALL #5: 2014 Chevrolet Silverado, 2014 GMC Sierra, 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe

These 477 vehicles suffer from a problem with steering system. According to GM, "The tie rod threaded attachment to the steering gear rack in these vehicles may not be tightened to specification. With this condition, the tie rod can separate from the steering rack and a crash could occur without prior warning."

Please note: GM says that owners should NOT drive any of the affected vehicles until they've been inspected by a dealer and repaired. (If you own one of the affected vehicles, you should receive word today: GM sent notices yesterday via overnight mail.) The vehicles shouldn't even be driven to dealerships; instead, owners should call GM and arrange to have their vehicles towed in for service.

GM explains that the number of of vehicles is small because the defect was discovered early in the assembly process. The repair involves inspection of the inner tie rods to ensure proper torque. If necessary, GM says that the steering gear will be completely replaced.


Don