TO BE THE BEST

[Music] to be the best is not simply a choice one makes it is a journey toward the end of an endless road for some the trip means overcoming obstacles that would detour any weaker spirit the quest for excellence can prove that wisdom and experience count for as much as youth and enthusiasm and though the first step may be a big one nothing is impossible for those who take it [Music] the way it used to be done is a mold meant to be broken by strivers who like these two women create new role models they are the only female crew in a balloon race otherwise contested by traditional male pilots [Music] our best guides are often those who know the way because they've been there before as has this elderly Navajo sand Peter who conveys to a young student the values of a ceremony with roots deep in his past as the fading Sun edges its shadows deeper they destroy their delicate image in a tradition reaffirming that the pursuit of perfection can be a quest that begins anew with each tomorrow [Music] [Applause] [Music] Chrysler was in a terrific position if there can be a terrific position when you're just about to go out of business but you was in a terrific position to sit back and look at the car industry and see now we've got to start from scratch to come to a car company that was willing to take chances and do some fairly wild and exotic things in order to become competitive again was a great opportunity and as a result I think I was part of the recovery and now I'm gonna be part of the fun this complex we work in this building this environment five hundred and fifty three thousand square feet of sandbox I can go out there and try new processes new conveyor systems new framing systems new welding equipment it's a very bright positive place to be we learned to be a team we learned to help one another we've gone from a company that people said why don't you just quit to a company that's absolutely admired managing today is much different than it was in the past because today we are hands-on managers and we are on the floor with the people daily we grew up with these people all of our supervisors actually know every employee by name they're able to relate to them it's just a key to our whole planned operation there's been a complete change around that's not that adversary relationship between management and union we're doing the job together we consider ourself more family now one of the most confident things that the dealers feel today about our corporation is leadership when I came here I felt like I died and went to heaven I'm the man that's running that machine all day and if I've got a problem with it they're willing to listen to me and try to fix it where the place will hurt before it's you do it my way or in it treat people with respect they have valuable experience that I can draw upon if there are things that are going wrong or certain parts don't fit you get to investigate get to talk to the people who put the part on you say what's what's wrong what do you think and I think because I do constant checks that it ensures good quality and the consumer is definitely going to benefit the new management team we got today it's it's it's a breath of fresh air but if you spend money and you take people out of the thought process you've got 45 50 million dollars spent out there and it means absolutely nothing before we had robots before we had laser vision we had skilled employees those people still do the job today you cannot have vehicle integrity without having the dedication and the skill level that's required of the operators that's really doing the job once the employees the mass workers in the plants and on the line saw that this was a sincere committed management team to be world class it was like an avalanche it started to move and it built up momentum we're getting a tremendous positive contribution attitude from our hourly workforce the person who is keenest and closest to the solution to the problem the integration of optic sensors scanners laser beams things that people do not a spell five years ago in manufacturing now are common I have seen a tremendous change in attitude where the people want to be the best as much as the management want to be the best everybody wants to be a winner that's what America is all about the American pioneer spirit is survival it is aggressiveness it's the refusal to play dead it's the refusal to give up and that's what will keep us drawn three years ago I was laid off for eight months and I had between ten and eleven years seniority it gives you time to think and take inventory and see where you are and see what you want your future to be do you think well you know what good is a union without a company then Bay is over with I'm not concerned with that welcome towards you right now I've been out long enough it's time to get down to business take it right through the full cycle engineering procurement sales service dealer body supplier that we have been willing to accept our weaknesses of the past and that we've made commitments to change we have new priorities quality is now our number one priority I always tell my people the Devils in the detail if you ever get too far away from those details that's the day you start losing and manufacturing if you want to be the best you have to learn every grinding detail I having a good attitude when you come to work in the morning and afternoon or Midnight's or whatever it's truly important boredom is a big enemy deadly among assembly workers and to wait I Drive it out is a key spirits high whatever you're doing if you're mopping floors or programming a computer everybody likes to have a pat on the back if it don't come from someone you're working for it has to come from yourself from within if you don't take pride in something that you work with and work at what's the use of working we are working to be the best and it's not just something that we have come up with a slogan [Applause] in our service department if somebody comes in there and if they're not totally satisfied with the work we've performed on their car we're not gonna argue about it we're gonna do everything humanly possible to see that that customer feels like a king when he walks out of our store no matter what the monetary cost is I think it'll come back many times over this thing about quality you know we we have it I'm the type of person you know if I buy something I like it to be working right fitting right and this is the reason why my job is so important because when I'm tightening screws up torque it down and make sure that the doors are fitting right if I don't make sure that that doors right defenders not gonna go on so that's important a perfect fit means a perfect car and when we got involved with quality quality got to be a way of life for the people in Detroit trim our quality is meeting our targets it's sewing a good cover the first time and we take pride in what we do we don't just sew and throw the things we're able to do with a cushion nobody else can do we have a dart and good bunch of workers and they're dedicated workers and the least seniority worker in our engine plant has got ten years seniority they do the job properly just as though that engine is going into their car been the best it means Pratt you believe in doing a very good job at your work like a craftsman and the engine to an automobile is like you're hired in your body yeah it better be good or you're not gonna function impaired well it's a heavy industry and as a result of that it does require the kinds of operations that people have come to call smokestack industries but there's an awful lot of high tech with robotics and things of that nature and there's more of that coming I don't think there's any question that the American workforce can compete on a world market I don't think there's any question that the American workforce we can put out a quality product we are very competitive and we have the capacity to be best in certain classes and darn it we're gonna be the best we believe it and we have the people to do it when I sit down at the drawing board I look at what I did yesterday and I try to do something that's one step further I'm thinking about the job all the time and that's what it takes an individual commitment personal pride and what you do and it's gonna produce a quality product they put you right into things and you write on the board doin loose concept work just coming up with with strange ideas just brainstorming the pocket rocket syndrome is really being developed in the u.s. most the young designers are not into big v8s with lots of power they want little cars that perform quick it's fantastic the latest tests show us just blowing the doors off with the Japanese the first things I look for is comfort steering ability shifting ability how well the brakes grab the way it moves a sporty car is coming back and it's kind nice to see I believe in what we build and I just bought one we tried to put together new product technology manufacturing technology and roll it all up into a vehicle package that will yield vehicles in the 1990s that people want to buy and that they can afford when they told me they wanted a car in 24 months quite frankly it made me nervous but now that we've done it and you look back on it you say well that wasn't so hard I wonder what we'll do next many people will say they're over the hurdle the rest is easy and while the rest is not easy the world is full of surprises for all of us the import car quotas are off now we've got a new very formidable challenge how do we fend off the import card if you don't want to run like hell stay off the fast track in order to be the best you've got to fight for everything and we have fought for everything that we were down the bottom when we fought our way up being the best is a matter of pride it's uh I don't like to lose all we need is an opportunity to do that job and to do that job right and I think our blue and white Pentastar says an awful lot about what's good about America in American business if I had to put it in one word I would have to say pride is absolutely what motivates Roy Smith perseverance endurance we're tough we'll be there it's the enthusiasm to win we're gonna make it and win number one being the best is many things yet ultimately it is people who translate ideals into sheet metal who imbue an automobile with their own principles who make machines that reflect their personal best so it should come as no surprise that the men and women of Chrysler whether they're a parachutist who's also a production analyst a young Navajo who services cars or sport balloonists who are a secretary and an insurance analyst they're all achievers they're the best the men and women of Chrysler [Music]