WORKMANSHIP MYTH

[Music] this is mike shuteck mike builds cars he will never drive this is john morton john builds blood analyzers he will never use this is theresa carter teresa constructs television sets whose pictures she will never see you are part of a system and because the system is highly competitive its strength is also its weakness you must rely on others for the products you use but if for instance you don't have confidence in the skill training and attitude of teresa carter a person you never met you could buy a television set with components built by sengi hakaya who works in tokyo whom you also never met that is your right in the system of course the reverse is also true if teresa carter loses confidence in your ability she doesn't need what you make how good are the things you make how good are theresa carter and mike shuteck and why is it that a lot of americans prefer someone else's work i'm martin agronski and i'm an american workman so are my doctor my dentist the people who constructed this building and this street and the waitress who served me dinner last night they all have different skills and different capabilities but they have two things in common first they are americans who work second it has been widely reported that we as a society seem to have begun to lose confidence in their work why for a viewpoint on that let's switch over to japan like the legendary prophet the american workman is sometimes honored more in a country other than his own this is isatan company limited one of the oldest department stores in japan every industrialized society in the world makes products like toys and towels clothing jewelry cameras watches pens and tools the successful retailer does not have to import them over thousands of expensive miles esatan has found a reason to america when did you begin to sell american products well that started about 1945. we began gradually and since then the volume we handle has been increasing steadily mr kasu masa koshiba manager of isatan tokyo anno dai taisuno these american products amount to what kind of dollar volume within our last year's sales record it's equivalent to one and a half million dollars why would the japanese customer choose an american product instead of its local equivalent i believe that it's the quality of american product that has been appreciated by the japanese customer exactly what do you mean by quality i believe that there are three points first is there is functionality they are useful second they are very durable good workmanship and third the prices are reasonable so for these reasons they are well preputed amongst japanese customers one store in tokyo does a million and a half dollars worth of business selling the same american products we take for granted toys small appliances sporting goods towels but it's not just the product that people buy it's the quality the workmanship in venezuela 44 of all imported manufactured products are supplied by u.s manufacturers in singapore it's 22 percent in spain it's 14 in australia 24 why for a viewpoint on that let's switch to washington in the u.s department of commerce we asked dr charles w hostler deputy assistant secretary for international commerce dr hasser how well are american consumer products selling abroad american consumer products are doing very well martin uh they're worldwide we totaled about nine billion dollars in 1975 as compared to six and a half billion dollars the year before two and a half billion dollars says they are doing well that is very true dr let's summarize it would you say then that american consumer goods really hold their own in world markets against any foreign competition absolutely it means competitiveness in price prestige high quality distinctive styling attractive packaging and durability durability that's workmanship yes absolutely martin so people in other countries like and respect what we in the united states make but the ships go both ways in the past two years the united states imported more than 200 billion dollars worth of products from other countries we tend to think of american workmanship in terms of the assembly line immense and personal and designed for maximum productivity its ultimate end to produce x number of units per day per hour per minute the american system terribly familiar by implication quantity not quality only this isn't an american plant this is the volkswagen assemblyworks we are not the only people in the world with assembly lines but we seem to have a real fascination for foreign assembly lines maybe because we don't work on them consider for instance the automobile its impact on life here is absolutely stunning one of every six people in the united states depends on the automotive industry for their livelihood but a lot of people besides americans make cars and in the past year approximately 17 percent of the americans who bought a car bought one that was made by workers in another country to give you an idea what that preference means consider this at the request of the new york times a harvard economist did some research and reported that for every 1 billion dollars in lost u.s car sales about fifty eight thousand americans lose their jobs that means one billion dollars equals 58 000 lost jobs in 1975 import car and truck sales totaled in excess of eight billion dollars that's 464 000 jobs do the arithmetic again 58 000 times 8 equals 464 000 lost jobs so this preference for cars built by the workers of other countries has a tremendous impact on our economy the thing that i can't understand is i come here to take care of my claim i see all these other people laid off from tire companies and glass factories car manufacturers they wait in line to get their money and they go out into the parking lot and drive off in a foreign car they never put two and two together it doesn't make any sense to me the social scientists have pointed out that consumers approach a product not only in terms of its reality but also in terms of the myth surrounding it what you believe a product to be is what you buy but is what you believe reality or myth let's take a closer look the three basic areas of concern for the buyers of most products are how much does it cost to buy how much does it cost to keep working how long will it last all right let's look at the facts fact based on manufacturers suggested retail prices there are nine cars sold in the united states whose initial purchase price is less than three thousand dollars four of these cars the gremlin the pinto pony the chevette and the vega are american fact according to the latest epa report on fuel economy 30 of the top 70 rankings belong to american manufacturers all of these vehicles were ranked at better than 20 miles per gallon in the city 30 miles per gallon on the highway and all achieved at least 25 miles per gallon in the combined city highway test fact two of the top six rankings the chevrolet chevette and the pinto pony mpg are american so we are left with how long will this bright shiny new car last 84 percent of all the foreign cars that sold here from 1967 to 1970 are still on the road in comparison 85 percent of all the american cars sold during that period are still on the road so going back nine years there's virtually no statistical difference between the durability of american and foreign cars or you can look at it this way if for instance you are still driving a 1966 chevrolet like that one there are almost a million and a half other people just like you and about 18 million people who have an american car older than yours well if it isn't a price and it isn't a fuel economy and it isn't durability then what is the difference i think the foreign car makers take more pride in workmanship the foreign manufacturer seems to be more interested in the craftsmanship and the quality that goes into his product than in just how many units he produces in a given day well you see the foreign cars put together differently they use all kinds of special techniques over there that's an interesting belief let's take a look this is a datsun assembly line in japan this is a fiat assembly plant in italy this is a chevette assembly plant in wilmington delaware these plants have much in common their workers take vacations and days off for illness just as anyone else and they are just as obligated to operate at a profit as any place else the myth has grown that small foreign cars especially those made in europe are handcrafted by skilled national artisans foreign cars are built in plants much like ours by people from many different countries and backgrounds just as we are in west germany there are more than two and a half million so-called temporary foreign workers they come seeking work from less industrialized countries greece turkey italy spain yugoslavia and many of them find their way onto the assembly lines of the german manufacturing plants for the most part they come with limited technical skill they come to earn a different life just as american workers of all races creeds and ethnic backgrounds gravitated to the industrial centers in the united states so not all foreign products are built by swiss watchmakers on the other hand who builds american products it's not like the old days were you know just casual just put a car together and that's it we ship it but uh right now it's quality is everything why do you say that well if we don't put our great party uh no job no one buys who's gonna feed my family i've talked to thousands of our guys i've represented the people in one capacity or another for the past 10 years and i can honestly say that i don't really know of anyone that i've met who doesn't want to do a good quality job when he's at work in the plant well mike would you call that pride well yeah it's pride i pride my workmanship i call it uh my responsibility to my uh to myself that's how some american workmen see themselves and the men they work with you may see your job and the people who work with you differently but these views appear to a certain extent to be shared by the managers of a number of foreign manufacturing firms and by a number of american industrialists as well robert lund is a general motors vice president and general manager of the largest u.s automobile operation chevrolet mr london would you comment on these foreign manufacturers management decisions to set up operations here in this country well martin i don't think it's very surprising to find foreign automobile manufacturers looking to develop assembly facilities here a lot of economic factors could contribute to their decision foreign companies in other industries sony and kawasaki for example have had highly successful manufacturing operations in the united states for years you don't make an investment of that magnitude without that confidence in the quality of your workforce listen isn't a good deal of our success though due to purely technological advances well naturally the bottom line of technology is still people people who recognize needs people capable of developing the technology and most importantly people capable of operating it what you really need is a productive combination of all these skills well your bag really your automobiles give me an example as it applies to automobiles well if you want to use the automobile as an example i think you have to look at it this way there are more than 92 million american-made cars on the road today in this country and each has something like fifteen thousand different parts in it to achieve this kind of quality and productivity the american worker has to be doing a phenomenal number of things right the american workmen has to be doing a phenomenal number of things right these century-old steam engines here in the smithsonian museum are an example that deserves more than a passing thought while our grandparents workmanship went into such innovations they in turn would have considered as miracles the things we scarcely notice except when they inconvenience us we've spent a large part of our time looking at american workmanship in the automobile industry not because it's the epitome of our craftsmanship but because one out of every six of us either contributes to or is dependent upon that product for our daily bread also because it's an area of manufacture where we are in direct competition with the workers of many other countries we are the american workers we are not some faceless nameless legion we are us you and me maybe we are not as good as we can be but we are better than we believe we are this has been martin agronski reporting [Music] so you