European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 18, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                August 1985 the stars and stripes Page 13 by Edward Miller associated press the first Spade Ful of dirt turned at the Saturn car Complex site at Spring will signal the Start of a general motors Effort to revolutionize and in the process much of the Auto Saturn chief aim is to slash costs and eliminate the estimated advantage of the pm believes it is so far from that goal that it must Start Saturn with a clean Sheet of paper questioning every step of the from the design studio to the factory floor to the dealer pm officials say privately that the key to Saturn is breaking Down the old work rules and transplanting the Saturn system bit by bit throughout which has employees represented by the United Auto workers the Law leadership has gone along with the Basic Saturn proposals in return for some Lon sought including employee input in decision making and the recognition of members As salaried workers instead of there will be no time clocks at the Saturn management and labor will share cafeterias and parking Law workers will help decide How Many cars to How to advertise and sell them and what prices to they also will be asked their opinions on How to improve Assembly methods and where to buy and Many workers will get lifetime the Saturn production which will include an Asye unknown number of Laid off Law apparently will get 80 percent of current pm production the difference could be made up with incentive a technique pm is counting on to add to productivity this is a major shift in said Malcolm professor of business policy at Harvard management would look at labor As a variable Cost of production and the Union would look at the firm As something from which to extract As much As they Saturn is Gas attempt to break with the Auto Industry when America ruled the car making world and the costs of inefficient manufacturing methods were passed on to the chief among them Are rules which basically prohibit a worker from doing More than one or two Auto Industry executives generally agree that the key to japanese productivity int automation but the sophisticated use of hands and Saturn will try to copy and improve on i think what were looking at Here is perhaps the prototype of labor relations in the Auto Industry and the direction of american said Harley a labor and technology expert at Massachusetts Institute of As would change rules production employees could work a variety of Job Sand in the goal is lessening boredom and increasing product in workers gain seats on management committees that plan work assignments and employment Toyota considering Plant site Nashville Spring House Nissan Saul in Tennessee up Fri photo Tore from on mid there pm the japanese the Empire strikes sick Levels As Well As the number of cars to build and How to Market Assembly line perfected by Henry it will be augmented by the Saturn modules in which Large portions of the car May be built and finished before arriving at final Assembly with Quality and Cost of great it makes More sense to build up the door off the line rather than have workers Chase the car Down a moving adding stationary work stations Are More easily increasing location when demand for the new Ford Mustang suddenly skyrocketed 20 years Ford motor did what came natural for the Auto it built the car in three far Flung plants in new Michigan and California connected by a part Supply shipping can damage and Lon term warehousing can make a defect impossible to today newer Auto Assembly plants have Little or no warehouse compute ordered parts arrive Only a few hours before they Are this not Only helps Quality but also fits in with the demands of who expect to be Able to pick or reject a wide array of options on their cars and whose tastes can change Saturn also will be highly major parts will be made on the not across the and Supply companies will work alongside pm workers at the Saturn the Assembly area is to be big enough for production of a Hal million cars a year double the output of today postmodern plans Call for an aluminium foundry for engine blocks and other parts and an Iron foundry for steel a Plant for the stamping of Sheet Metal and a plastics with the japanese moving into the More lucrative midsize and luxury car markets in the United states and building More plants Ford and Chrysler will have to adopt these techniques to said who wonders if the changes have begun quickly enough to slow or Stop the rising wave of import car sales in in an open this approach is Salter the Only question is How William president of Gas new Saturn with an operating prototype of the car that Saturn will produce in a highly integrated manufacturing and Assembly Plant that will be built in