A very interesting letter written by a supplier to the auto industry

after reading the below first e-mail ----hope he still has a job

Abridged letter from Troy Clarke, President of General Motors - followed

by a response from Gregory Knox, President of Knox Machinery, a

manufacturer of precision machine tools which supplies the auto industry.

Dear Employee,

Next week, Congress and the current Administration will determine

whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to

help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's

history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this

support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the

global financial crisis ......................As an employee, you have a

lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate

voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard. Thank you

for your urgent action and ongoing support.

Troy Clarke President General Motors North America

~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RESPONSE:

From Gregory Knox,

In response to your request to call legislators and ask for a bailout

for the United States auto makers please consider the following, and

please also pass this onto Troy Clark, the president of General Motors

North America for me. You are both infected with the same entitlement

mentality that has bred like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last

countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping the nation, awaiting

our new "messiah" to wave his magical wand and make all our problems go

away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to keep

"living the dream"… The dream is over! The dream that we can ignore the

consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal

rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled

with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest

entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price for these

atrocities…and that still the masses will line up to buy our products

Don't tell me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing of what I speak.

I have called on Ford, GM ,Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American

Axle and countless other automotive OEM's and Tier ones for 3 decades

now throughout the Midwest and what I've seen over the years in these

union shops can only be described as disgusting. Mr. Clark, the

president of General Motors, states: "There is widespread sentiment in

this country, our government and especially in the media that the

current crisis is completely the result of bad management. It is not…"

You're right – it's not JUST management…how about the electricians who

walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on

them for countless hours while they drag ass…so they can come in on the

weekend and make double and triple time…for a job they easily could have

done within their normal 40 hour week How about the line workers who

threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics…for putting out too

many parts on a shift…and for being too productive (mustn't expose the

lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific

underproduction, must we?!?) Do you really not know about this stuff?!?

How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea: over

the last few years …we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with

our competitors. What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40

years?!? Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and

efficiency between us and them? The K car vs. the Accord? The Pinto vs.

the Civic?!? Do I need to go on? We are living through the inevitable

outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades.

Time to pay for your sins, Detroit. I attended an economic summit last

week where a brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu surprised the crowd when

he said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money".

Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems, but despite what

people like George Bush and Troy Clark would have us believe, the sun

would in fact rise the next day… and something else would happen…where

there had been greedy and sloppy banks new efficient ones would pop

up…that is how a free market system works…it does work…if we would let

it work… But for some reason we are now deciding that the rest of the

world is right and that capitalism doesn't work – that we need the

government to step in and "save us"…save us, hell – we're

nationalizing…and unfortunately too many of this once fine nations

citizens don't even have a clue that this is what's really happening…but

they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams…yeah –

THAT'S important… Does it occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has

been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades now in this

country?... How can that be??? Let's see… Fuel efficient… Listening to

customers… Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long

haul… Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr W Edwards

Deming 4 decades ago Ever increased productivity through quality, lean

and six sigma plans… Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather

than like "the enemy"… Efficient front and back offices… Non union

environment… Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be

telling anyone anything they really don't already know in their hearts I

have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting

someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into –

my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did at their

age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest

gifts, by the way) – I make them stand on their own two feet and accept

the consequences of their actions and work them through. Radical

concept, huh… Am I there for them in the wings? Of course – but only

until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults I don't

want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are

unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and

government. Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins.

Bad news people – it's coming whether we like it or not The newly

elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it

all go away" I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost

immediately after the vote count was tallied…"we might not do it in a

year…or in four…" where was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for

the office Stop trying to put off the inevitable … That house in Florida

really isn't worth $750,000… People who jump across a border really

don't deserve free health care benefits… That job driving that forklift

for the big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year… We really shouldn't

allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a

country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most

atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe… That couple

whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be living in

that $485,000 home… Let the market correct itself people – it will. Yes

it will be painful, but it's gonna be painful either way, and the bright

side of my proposal is that on the other side of it is a nation that

appreciates what is has…and doesn't live beyond its means…and gets back

to basics…and redevelops the work ethic that made it the greatest nation

in the history of the world…and probably turns back to God. Sorry –

don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you the "bad

news"

Gregory J Knox President Knox Machinery, Inc. Franklin, Ohio 45005