Daniel Roos
The problem is the cars that have been on the road for five or ten years, for two reasons. First of all, when they were built, the technology wasn't as good and the standards weren't as high. Secondly, they tend not to operate particularly well. Now, what the Japanese do with those cars is in a sense they dump them in Third World countries. They resell them. They recycle them.
00:51:19
Brian Lamb
Do they rebuild them?
00:51:20
Daniel Roos
Well, to some extent they do. It depends on what country it's going into.
00:51:25
Brian Lamb
Time always flies by. We've got about five minutes, but I do want you to look into the future. Ten years from now will lean production be the way of American automobile manufacturing?
00:51:37
Daniel Roos
We believe not only American automobile manufacturing, but also more broadly manufacturing, yes.
00:51:45
Brian Lamb
How much of American automobile manufacturing facilities today use lean production?
00:51:49
Daniel Roos
Manufacturing facilities, probably about 20 percent, in varying degrees.
00:52:05
Brian Lamb
Cars.
00:52:06
Daniel Roos
Cars, yes. I say manufacturing because, again, we haven't spent any time on the program, unfortunately, talking about product development and the whole rest of building a car and suppliers.
00:52:18
Brian Lamb
You've got to give the people a reason to go buy your book.
00:52:21
Daniel Roos
Absolutely.
00:52:23
Brian Lamb
It's only $22.50, so it's all in there.
00:52:25
Daniel Roos
We've only talked about one chapter, really, and there are about 10.
00:52:30
Brian Lamb
Why don't we stop there for just a second. If we've only talked about one chapter, what are the other significant chapters that you feel that the people if they are interested can find in the book?
00:52:40
Daniel Roos
Yes, I'm glad we can do that. There's a chapter on product development that talks about how you conceptualize a new car and how much time it takes to develop it and how you go about developing it. There's a chapter on the relationship of assemblers with suppliers, which is absolutely key in an industry that has so many components that all have to come together. There's a chapter on the distribution system in which we present a radically different viewpoint of how people are going to buy cars in the future -- as opposed to going and picking a car off the lot which you may or may not like, being able to custom order a car and getting it within a matter of weeks. And towards the end of the book we talk about what we view as the post-national corporation -- how functions are going to reorient themselves.
00:53:39
Daniel Roos
You talked about the trans-plants before. Japanese companies not only are putting in manufacturing and assembly facilities, they are putting in research facilities, they are putting in design facilities. We're dealing with situations of international markets and international companies, and how those companies organize their activities and locate their facilities is absolutely key to the future. We talk about that in the book. We talk about the financial system.
00:54:08
Brian Lamb
Are you optimistic ...
00:54:09
Daniel Roos
Am I optimistic?
00:54:11
Brian Lamb
... about the American businessperson figuring it out, hanging in there with the percentage they've got now?