There's a history of people commuting for good jobs in Maine, ... We're a mobile state because of our rural nature. To make it work as a car pooler, you need to be able to link up with people in similar situations. And the higher the price of energy, the more incentive there is to car pool. An organization like Go Maine helps find that needle in the haystack. |
There's a much higher level of urgency. I think they realize that they're betting the company on this. Our sense is this is being viewed as this is a change-or-die kind of thing. |
There's the thought that if this is going to be so hot, why not price it higher? But if you do, maybe you lose volume and it doesn't stay hot as long, or you have to move to incentives and price cuts sooner, or you give a competitor a chance to enter the field sooner. The dealers certainly are making money. But the factory doesn't benefit from that. |
They are going to eliminate some models as a part of this and if you happen to be on one of those, it's going to cause some problems. The reality is, in some cases suppliers may just disappear. There's tremendous consolidation among suppliers right now. Is it enough? I don't know. |
They are much leaner than they were. But they are not as lean as they need to be in comparison to the market size they have. |
They feared a nuclear option, like killing health care benefits for retirees. |
They have moved from a rigid culture, to a much more lean and flexible company. |
They were amazed. And they said if we could pull off that many releases, it would be monumental for the company and for our customers. |
They're not making anywhere near the money they need to be making. The only reason we're not talking more about them is because they don't have as serious a problem as GM or Ford. |
They've got to create alignment between capacity and sales volume. |
They've really outgrown their Georgetown facility. This gives them a little additional capacity. |
Think about this: Over the next 3-6 months, we'll ship more innovative technology into the marketplace than during our entire 10-year history. |
This is a big, sweeping deal. It really is a basic framework for a huge restructuring. |
This is a major restructuring. The people inside of Ford basically believe they are betting their company on this restructuring. |
This is all untested territory. Whatever happens, it's making the issues much more stark and real. |