tcap for now

this reminds me of a conversation i had with one of my kids teachers not long ago. and it wasnt a friendly one. my daughter came home one day and said her teacher told the class that import cars are better than american cars. so i felt i needed to talk to him, the principal and the school board. i was quite angry. and it was only months after they announced tcap was closing. he stated that cars made in japan were better than cars made in the united states. he also went on to say that toyota made more profit and higher quality because they did not have the union to contend with. and he was goint to be a toyota man for life. his toyota had no problems ever. i asked him what he drove. his reply "I drive a 1999 toyota corolla" you should have seen the look on his face when i told him it was a UAW product made in the united states.

was it in 2000 the taurus get center shoulder belts in the back seat? im looking to buy a used taurus and i want all 3 seats in the back to have shoulder belts.

since its just for fun anyway why not. gm could buy jeep. after all they have wanted it for a while. i could actually see this happening. ford could buy chrysler. then cummins engines would be in the superduty. then they would sell or discontiue dodge truck production and shut down the plants to eliminate f-series competition. if chrysler is sold im willing to bet that nissan/renault will be a likely buyer. they were in talks with ford and gm to get a better hold in the us market. this way they get in and are in control.

well i stand corrected on indy. you are lucky to get any notice on your last day. a few people i work with were informed an hour before the end of the shift on their last day. and some still dont know when they will be leaving. rumor has it some were told between now and september.

i agree everyone should try to have a backup plan. but it isnt always possible. when we went back to work after christmas break, they started telling people it was their last day on thier last day. its hard to tell a possible employer "i dont know when i wil be able to start. could be tomorrow could be september." not many employers will let you start whenever you want. and you obviously are lucky enough to be at a plant that is not closing, or have the option of transferring. for me my plant is closing. i had to make the tough decision of leaving my family to keep my good job and benefits with ford or take a pay cut and hope the check comes before my savings run out, and that the plans i made work out like i hope. its a big gamble to start over. i am quitting ford but remeber this ford quit on us first. at tcap and many others for pretty much told us for years of quality and production that we will be thanked by getting a slap in the face and tough family breaking decisions to make.

sounds like michael waltrip is already having sludge problems with his toyota lol.

i may be wrong on this, but i believe the ranger is still number one in the compact/midsize truck market. i have been busy planning for a new career so i havent looked in a while. edit: just checked still #1 in sales and quality for compact/midsize trucks.

with some of the supervisors gone i think we would run better. is new model launch in may for sure? if they want 80,000 units for 2008, it would take till the end of jan to build them all on ot. and thats if everything goes perfect, 50 off the line for 50 hours a week. i dont think that happens often.

now thats funny

maybe we could train the cats and mice to run on wheels to run some of the lines. that would save some electricity to sell to xcel. maybe even train a few to deliver paychecks and other paperwork. if you take one home what would you name it? ford, alan, bill or jac?

they probably outsourced that too and screwed it up. just like our pay checks lately.

save the cats?? they will have the place all to themselves within a year and a half. maybe we can save the plant as a wild cat refuge.

that would explain the hurry to have everyone start as temps on monday.

the blizzard makes sense. i didnt know they got that much snow.

how do we have a parts shortage on a monday? fri, sat and sunday arent enough time to ship parts? not that i mind an extra day off.

i completely agree. in my opinion ford needs to sell jaguar, land rover, and aston martin. that would be a help in downsizing the company. which would allow ford to focus on the names they are known for, ford lincoln and mercury. volvo has a lot to offer in safety and engineering ans well as sales over seas. now that pag is starting to turn around its time to sell. it should be ford lincoln mercury till the end of time.

it probably depends on if they have to review your check for child support or other such payments. i believe if you have a case they have to look even if they dont take anything out.

i had a 2003 f-150 2wd that i traded for a 2004 4x4. being 5'7" i could reach over the side of the 2003 but only barely. so i didnt really miss that on the 2004. i do like the higher sides though. i have made use of them a few times mostly when my tonneau cover was on. i do lose my small utility trailer behind the bed, but i could barely see it behind the 2003 which was a 2wd. if it was a 4x4 it would have been lost on that one as well. but the ride of the 2004 is definately far superior. in fact i think my f-150 has a nicer ride than most cars on the road. and feels more stable and capable off road. and it tows like a dream. its more stable towing my camper than my 2003 was, and gets it moving better. it has more room in the back seat than my 2003 did. (both super cabs). i like the interior a lot better as well. but the seats are only a little better. if the 6.5 foot bet was available in the super crew in 2004 i would have gotten that. but i would still like a super crew f-150 with an 8ft box. my truck is my daily driver as well as my recreational vehicle. and does my odd jobs as well. when i got my 2004 i wanted a superduty real bad. i drove both and the f-150 won me over on one drive. won over my friend who was a die hard dodge fan too. and another friend is considering an f-150 as well but thats mostly because transmissions are getting spendy for his silverado. if the dealer has a problem changing my plugs i will simply tell them, "it wasnt broke when i brought it in, you broke it you fix it and you pay for it." i feel if i didnt break it and they did doing a routine tune up its their problem. if they tell me its a problem with the truck that will be ammo to use to get ford to cover it. and i have the extended warranty on my truck simply because its the first year of a new model. even under ideal conditions there can still be problems, but i understand that and accept it as long as ford will make good on the repairs. if not i will go elsewhere.

maybe i will have to get a gator back this weekend. mine squeals too.

what did we do?

most of the white collar jobs being shown the door are getting screwed and they didnt do anything wrong either. they doo what upper management tells them to. and white collar for the most part makes more per hour than blue collar workers. but there are too many white collar jobs. especially with so many line jobs going away they will need less management. so its my opinion white collar workers should have been given the same or similar buyout options we recieved to get more of them to leave. as well as other salaried workers that fit in the middle like engineers, nurses, etc. if you were in my shoes you would buy the i couldnt go to college argument. especially since when i was younger i worked my ass off to save the money to go. im not going into detail but family comes first. of course this country needs more educated people. the south was blue collar because there were jobs there. more and more people go to college every year. the career i was first considering after ford has had stable wages for 15 years. the reason? more college educated people apply than there are jobs. now needless to say the same education will get you a job that does pay more money. and everyone should try for a college education. companies send production to other countries because the people there need jobs so badly they will do them for cheap. just like if 100,000 people go to college to be doctors and there are only 30,000 doctor jobs available. if thats their only skill, to be a doctor, and they have no money for a different education because they spent all their money to be a doctor, they will take a job as a doctor even though they would make less money due to the fact that if they dont take the job the next person will. they could be happy making less money. especially if it was their dream to be a doctor. that said i like to make things. i dont want to be a doctor, accountant, computer programmer, etc. i like to work with my hands. so i will be working towards finding a career that will let me do what i enjoy and pays a salary i can support my family with. i WANTED to work at tcap when i was 5. i took a tour and thought that would be a cool job. now when i got the job i realized it wasnt so cool. its hard work and long days. its demanding and fast paced. as well as dangerous if you dont pay attention or loose focus. but despite the problems i love my job. at the end of the day i have done my part to make a good quality truck. i see my work when i leave at the end of every day. and my family is taken care of. a friend of mine went car shopping last week. he bought a chevy malibu. he looked at a fusion which is similar in price. but he didnt want a car made in another counrty. he loooked at the camry and corolla which are a little higher in price and made in the us. as it turned he liked the malibu better and it was a better deal. chevy makes a profit on the malibu. its made in the usa with uaw labor. ford sells the fusion for a similar price. made in mexico with cheap labor. more profit for the top. toyota makes the camry and corolla in the usa, non union wages, sells for more money. toyota makes more profit. wages and benefits do not seriously impact the end cost of a vehicle. the consumer doesnt save big money if the car was made in mexico. while we can all agree gm has problems as well, the malibu does sell. its a fairly poplular model. if toyota paid their workers the same pay and benefits as uaw workers they would still make big profits if the kept prices the same.

through contract negotiations is how its decided. despite how it sounds coming from both sides, NO automaker would agree to a contract they could not make money on. just as the uaw would not ask for a contract that would break the company. both would be foolish. look at the way top execs in the big three spend and squander cash. thats money that could go into product development and research. had they done that years ago we would have products to compete with. now we will all be forced to give up something. the union will be asked to sacrifice first. not to save money but to make it look good to shareholders. shareholders and people on the outside can visualise 38,000 people no longer recieving checks. they cant visualize the really long ladder of management or corporate waste or lack of efficeincy. with the 38,000 people leaving ford, they still say there will not be a profit till 2009 or 2010. but almost everyone taking a buyout will be gone in early 2007. so even with us gone they cant make money. thus we are not the root of the problem. it will take till 2009 to get a couple of new models out and selling. the edge and new superduty for 2007, in the next year or so we might get a new focus. and a refreshed fusion, f-150 and 500. maybe in mid 2009 at the soonest to mid 2010 we could get an an all new vehicle or two. you can plainly see that 4 or 5 new and updated vehicles is what they need to make a profit. not less workers at less pay. we just arent that big of an impact on cost. we are just more visible. workers at the non union plants in the south are following the same carrots we are. their wages and benefits are close to ours to keep them from trying to be union. the companies have and will admit it. without our pay and benefits an assembly plant would have a turnover rate higher than fast food. high turnover hurts quality and production.

in 2001 we were supposed to get a new ranger for 2003 if i remember right. then it was delayed. then delayed again then cancelled. in 1998 when the ranger got ifs, it wasnt a costly upgrade from a production stand point. in fact its easier to assemble. and i believe almost all of our equipment was paid for long ago. especially the equipment that was used in the 80s for the first gen ranger and f-150. the only things i could imagine arent paid for is the new box automation that i was told mazda paid most of the bill on when the flare sides went away, and a few paint robots. there has been veryvery little spent on equipment for ranger production. we have been building a good solid truck with old should have been dead a long time ago equipment. needless to say im against any vehicle going to china. with every plant in the us that closes more american jobs go with it. everyone says well its cheaper if its made in china. but if there are no good paying jobs in the us who will be able to buy them. im one of those who bought new fords with my ford paycheck. i dont think i will be able to afford a new car for quite some time. i believe the ranger was left to die, not only for the f-150 but also for the explorer. the reason there isnt a full 4 door ranger is because of the sport trac. if i were to guess id say the new explorer is what the new ranger was supposed to be. and that the sport trac was a test more or less to see if the two could be built together. the reason there isnt a full 4 door ranger is because of the sport trac. the f-150 out sells the expedition by a pretty good margin. if you buy an f-150 and put a topper on it you have a discount expedition without a 3rd seat. if the ranger was more like the explorer with 4 full doors and similar size they might loose profitable explorer sales to rangers with toppers. along with that a v-6 xl f-150 is close in price and fuel mileage to a ranger but with more capability. with the ranger lacking in seating and power ford is trying to get families to go for the explorer and companies to go with the f-series. we are slated to end production of the ranger in the summer of 2008. many of us think it will be done a lot sooner than that. and there arent even roumors of a new truck in the works. for is leaving the mini van segment. they already left the sub-compact market, the touring sedan market, and have limited 2dr sedans planned. so far it looks like they will just leave the compact truck market all together. especially if they can raise the eficciency of the v-6 in the f-series or get the v-6 diesel worked out. partly for sales partly for cafe.

its a little late but ill reply anyway. in mn its illegal to put child seats in sideways. its on obscure law but a law none the less. what i used to do on the rare occasion the family rode in my ranger, i put the 2 car seats in front with the air bag off. i put the oldest and the now ex-wife in the jump seats. which is why i say the ranger needs a bench in the back. but ford seems to think the sport trac is a truck. or they are trying to get people to do what i did and get a 150.

maybe i should celebrate all of the holidays. oh wait im late for hannukah. i have some catching up to do. just enjoy the freedom to celebrate whatever you believe in. including the raelians.