THIS 28 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: My Philosophy of Industry, by Henry Ford. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 0766159701.

Velocity 2.0: Paint, Pixels, & Profitability is the second book from retail automotive industry expert, entrepreneur and former dealer, Dale Pollak. The book picks up where Dale's Velocity: From the Front Line to the Bottom Line leaves off, revealing new ROI-based management metrics and processes dealers can use to operate more efficient and profitable used vehicle departments. The book flows from the recognition that today s used vehicle marketplace is more challenging and volatile than it s ever been a tough reality driven by the power of the Internet and a troubled economy. Velocity 2.0 offers a playbook of best practices and processes to help dealers become more successful.

Some things never change. Harley-Davidson is still the great, iconic American motorcycle. But like many storied companies, Harley has had to evolve to stay on top, even to stay in existence. From near-extinction in the early eighties, it has risen to worldwide recognition for management excellence and innovation. The Lean Machine is an inside look at how Harley-Davidson was able to adapt in an ever-changing world and accelerate product development. Rooted in Japanese productivity improvement techniques, Knowledge-Based Product Development helped fuel Harley's incredible period of sustained growth. Even after the company earned the PDMA Corporate Innovator Award in 2003, Dantar Oosterwal, a Harley-Davidson executive, took the improvement a quantum leap further. By implementing Lean Product Development techniques, Harley realized an unprecedented fourfold increase in throughput in half the time, powering annual growth of more than ten percent. In The Lean Machine, Oosterwal shows the day-to-day transformation at Harley and identifies universal change and improvement issues, so that companies in any industry can incorporate Knowledge-Based Innovation-with predictably excellent results.

This book examines the most recent transformations in the automobile industry. In particular it analyzes the impact of the new forms of industrial restructuring on production organization and the organization of labor and employee relations within Fiat in Italy, Volkswagen in Brazil and Renault and MCC/Smart in France. These case studies illustrate the most recent radical changes in the industry (outsourcing and modular organisation) and show how they have affected lean production.

It's 1901 and a guy named Harley has an idea. Put an engine on a bicycle. What? Outside his door, carts are still pulled by horses and autos are a rare sight, for goodness' sake. It's 1908 and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle sets a record by getting 188 miles to a gallon of gas. It's 1909 and the company introduces something new to its line: a V-Twin cylinder engine. Fast forward to the twenty-first century, and the technical innovation hasn't stopped. But there's a lot more than just choppers in the mix. Examples: The Harley-Davidson racing team adds a seventeen-year-old girl to the roster. 250,000 people help celebrate Harley's 100th anniversary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And a museum devoted to the company's products opens up. Clearly, this is a company unlike any other.

How did Harley do it? How did it go from making motorcycles to creating a Harley experience that puts hundreds of thousands of people aged sixteen to one hundred on the road traveling to events each year where they can meet company officials and other Harley riders? That's what this book is all about. Honda may match Harley-Davidson for quality and perhaps innovation, but no one has matched the company for its ability to create 'buzz marketing' and turn casual riders into unofficial sales people. Harley-Davidson, it turns out, isn't just in the motorcycle business. As its mission statement points out, it's in the business of fulfilling dreams. As author Missy Scott shows, Harley-Davidson is a rare company in other ways: Its loyal workforce, for one thing, is guided by principles like trust and respect for the individual. For another, the company has made a superb effort to keep jobs in the U.S., when it would be far cheaper and easier to use offshore labor. Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy in the early 1980s, Harley has roared back to capture the hearts of riders the world over, including the million-plus members of the Harley Owners Group (members are known, naturally, as HOGs). This book: -Explains the importance of the company and the essential disruptions that changed business forever. -Details Harley's origins and history. -Presents biographies of the founders and the historical context in which they launched the company. -Explains Harley's strategies and innovations. -Assesses Harley's impact on society, technology, processes, and work methods. -Details financial results over the years. -Predicts Harley's future prospects and successes. In addition, Scott offers special features that include a look at the colorful people associated with Harley, interesting trivia, a Harley-Davidson time line, a focus on products, a look at how the company treats its workers, what its detractors have to say, and where the company is headed. Harley-Davidson--a company that changed, and is changing, the world.

The production of bicycles in Britain and the United States recently suffered severe setbacks. The renowned American Schwinn brand was downgraded to the mass market by its new owners following bankruptcy, and Britain's Raleigh came close to closure because of high debts and poor returns, saved only by a last-minute management buyout. In both cases, market share and credibility were lost to newer, more innovative firms, as well as to a recentering of the global bicycle industry in the Far East.This book reflects on such changes by setting them within a sociological and historical context. It focuses on the British bicycle industry in the interwar years and in the 1980s and the 1990s--periods characterized by modernization of production and of industrial organization, by changing relations among players in the industry, by new developments in labor relations, and by changes in interactions between markets and product design. In particular, it traces the fortunes of the Raleigh Cycle Company from its beginnings as an innovative young firm, through massive expansion of its products and markets and the assimilation of many of its competitors, into further innovation amid market contraction and management inertia, and finally into a phase of global restructuring that has transformed and reduced its role within the industry.The book explores the complex ways in which product design, production methods, industrial organization, and the cultures of cycling have interacted to create a succession of sociotechnical frames for the bicycle. At the same time, on an activist level, the book promotes a participatory politics of bicycle technology and a less car-centered view of personal transportation.

Founded in 1963 with the merger of three leading brands - Sprite, Eccles and Bluebird - Caravans International was a formidable combination of British caravan heritage. Drawing on his unrivalled knowledge of the British caravan industry, Andrew Jenkinson describes the history of the individual brands within CI as well as the growing success of the company as a global brand. He follows the changing fortunes of the company in the face of increased international and UK-based competition until its collapse in 1982. The fall of CI rocked the caravan/motorhome and holiday caravan industry both at home and abroad and, despite a temporary resurgence through a management buy-out, the company was completely finished by the early 1990s. The author describes the wide variety of vehicles that were produced under the various CI brands, some of them highly innovative, and he also draws on first-hand interviews with company employees and a remarkable collection of photographs and leaflets. With his unique access to the CI archives, including interviews with the founder of Sprite and Caravans International, Andrew Jenkinson has written the definitive history covering the highs and lows of one of Britain's leading caravan and motorhome manufacturing brands.

This book is the original autobiographical work by Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company. In this book, Ford details how he got into business, the strategies that he used to become a wealthy and successful businessman, and what others can do by learning from the examples he has outlined. This book should be read by small business owners, business students and those interested in the history of the automobile. Henry Ford will take you through a journey of history, business and lessons to be learned from which he used to develop his financial empire.

At the beginning of the 1990s the German car industry had its back to the wall. Japanese competitors were demonstrating significant advantages in terms of quality and productivity. Consultants warned that only a few global car groups would survive. Instead of following the Japanese concepts of lean production, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche and Audi developed a new innovative premium brand strategy and initiated a revolution in the industry by setting innovative benchmarks. This book analyzes the story.

The author captures the evolution of Indian industrial capitalism by extending the 'models of capitalism' and 'regulation framework'. Using principally the auto industry and anchoring the analysis to the expansion of markets, he demonstrates that the Indian state and businesses have been important institutions for creating markets. He acknowledges significant market growth, but also underscores several contradictions arising from such capitalist development. There is a wealth of data, which scholars, policymakers, and businesses will find very useful.

The Color Line and the Assembly Line tells a new story of the impact of mass production on society. Global corporations, based originally in the United States, have played a part in making gender and race everywhere. Focusing on Ford Motor Company's rise to become the largest, richest, and most influential corporation in the world, The Color Line and the Assembly Line takes on the traditional story of Fordism. Contrary to popular thought the assembly line was perfectly compatible with all manner of racial practice in the United States, Brazil, and South Africa. Each country's distinct forms of racial hierarchies in the 1920s and 1930s informed Ford's often divisive labor processes. Confirming racism as an essential component in the creation of global capitalism, Elizabeth Esch also adds an important new lesson showing how local patterns gave capitalism its distinctive features.

This is Henry Ford's most revealing insights into his philosophy of both business and life. Discover how Henry Ford believed in, used and commanded spiritual and philosophical principles to build his financial empire.

This book examines the form and character of the internationalization of employee relations in the automobile industry. It goes onto examine the impact of the new forms of regionalization and their impact on employment relations within firms. Case studies are used to examine the transformation of employment standards, including General Motors, Toyota, Renault, FIAT and Peugeot. The book also assesses the significance of the emergence of regional integration processes in the form of regional economic spaces (EC, Nafta, Mercusor and ASEAN).

The story of the ghostwriting of Alfred P. Sloan's best-selling memoir, General Motor's attempts to block the book's publication, and the author's eventual triumph over the corporation. Published in 1964, My Years with General Motors was an immediate best-seller and today is considered one of the few classic books on management. The book is the ghostwritten memoir of Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. (1875-1966), whose business and management strategies enabled General Motors to overtake Ford as the dominant American automobile manufacturer in the 1920s and 1930s. What has been largely unknown until now is that My Years with General Motors was almost not published. Although it was written with the permission of General Motors-and slated for publication in October 1959-at the last minute General Motors tried to suppress the book out of fears that some of the material in it could become evidence in an antitrust action against the company. This book, by John McDonald, Sloan's ghostwriter, tells the behind-the-scenes story of the book's writing, its attempted suppression, and the lawsuit that eventually led to its publication. McDonald's narrative is partly the David-and-Goliath story of a lone journalist taking on the world's then-largest corporation and partly a study of strategy in its own right. McDonald's struggle to publish the book led him to navigate a complicated course among the competing interests of General Motors, Fortune magazine (his employer), and Time, Inc. (Fortune's owner). In many ways this "book about the book" parallels the Sloan book as a tale of successful, brilliantly planned strategy.

Roof crush describes a vehicles roof as it is deformed during a rollover crash. According to some analysts, a collapsing roof can compromise all a vehicles safety features, including its seatbelts and side-curtain airbags. Partial or complete ejection of the occupants can result. This book is focused on automobile safety, specifically on the NHTSA rulemaking on vehicle roof strength standards to protect automobile passengers in the event of rollover accidents. Biomechanics and what occurs in a rollover, the relationship between the vehicle roof strength and the occupant injury risk, the history and efficacy of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations roof strength standards in improving vehicle safety are all examined and discussed at length.

There are many books on the market that discuss the Toyota Production System but few that insightfully analyze its marketing strategy. Authored by former Toyota marketing executives, this is the first book of its kind to detail how Toyota's thinking habits go beyond the shop floor and influence and guide Toyota's marketing function. Toyota has expanded from a venture enterprise to one of the biggest global enterprises because of its innovative mindset (Toyota thinking habits) using Breakthrough Thinking, which supports a new philosophical approach to problem solving, turning 180 degrees away from conventional thinking. Written by Toyota's former executive managing director and founder of Breakthrough Thinking, Toyota's Global Marketing Strategy: Innovation through Breakthrough Thinking and Kaizen: Explores Toyota's "Breakthrough Thinking" Examines how Toyota conducts information gathering. Illustrates how Toyota builds and maintains its unique business culture Shows how Toyota "goes to the customer" and comprehensively studies how customers use their products Reveals Toyota's cars have become some of the biggest selling models in the USA The authors of this book explore Toyota thinking habits as well as Toyota's global marketing strategy, which, since the 1980sa, has been expanding exponentially. The reader will understand the importance of thinking habits in the workplace and will know how to apply them using Toyota as the prime case study.

Sketches of the men who are making our motor industry. Curiously, although our automobile industry was young at the time of this work, its leaders were not young men. The average age of the twenty foremost was a shade under fifty-five. Only three of them were in their forties. Every one of the following twenty men was self-made, most only had moderate schooling and nine had some college training: Harry H. Bassett; Roy D. Chapin; Walter P. Chrysler; William C. Durant; Albert R. Erskine; Harvey S. Firestone; Henry Ford; Charles D. Hastings; Frederick J. Haynes; John Hertz; Edward S. Jordan; Charles F. Ketterling; Alvan Macauley; Charles S. Mott; Charles W. Nash; R.E. Olds; Alfred P. Sloan; H.H. Timken; Walter C. White; John N. Willys.

The automobile sector is one of the most archetypal global industries and is seen by many as one of the main drivers behind the homogenization of world markets due to firms' internationalization strategies and the social practices that firms impose. This book argues that this is not entirely the case due to the heterogeneity of firms and the diversity of strategies pursued. It highlights the diversity and forms of internationalization and the preference for regionalization rather than globalization that has occurred over the past decade. This book looks specifically at the European car industry.

Few cars in history have grabbed the public's fancy as much as the ill-fated Edsel-the Titanic of automobiles, a marketing disaster whose magnitude has made it a household word. Remarkably, there has never before been a book that tells the whole story-how the Edsel was planned, created, produced, and marketed. This richly illustrated book is the result of years of research by an award-winning automotive historian with access to the dark reaches of the Ford Motor Company's archives. The author also interviewed most of the original key Edsel design team stylists, who have supplied additional archival material. The result is a unique history of the Edsel program from the initial discussions in the late 1940s, through the first sketches in the mid-1950s, to the last, unlamented 1960 models. The Edsel story, however, deals with much more than a new brand of car. It was a key component in a deadly serious corporate undertaking at Ford Motor Company following World War II. Ford wanted to remedy years of mismanagement and return the company to parity with General Motors by dramatically expanding Ford's presence in the burgeoning medium-priced field. The Edsel was the most spectacular failure in that effort, but was only one pawn in a complex, high-stakes chess game that was a thoroughgoing disaster from start to finish. In the case of the Edsel, the failure was the result of almost too many factors to count: poorly conceived marketing, contentious internal corporate politics, bad quality control, and, ultimately, lack of support at the higher reaches of the corporation. The greatest irony of all, though, is that the Edsel-as this book demonstrates in its surprising conclusion-was actually a modest success that deserved continued management support.

A Detroit Free Press reporter demythologizes Lee Iacocca's leadership of Chrysler, demonstrating how salesmanship and self-promotion invariably trumped innovation and investment. "Everyone who cares about american industry should read [this book]" (New York Times Book Review). Index.

Cari Chinn reviews the chequered history of the giant Longbridge works with the help of journalist Stephen Dyson who covered the story of BMW's disposal of Rover.

This book provides up-to-date information on globalisation trends and the transformations taking place in emerging markets. It discusses key themes of relevance to the auto industry, including the environmental impact of the car, adaptation of designs for the needs of emerging markets and the emergence of global mega-suppliers. These issues are placed in the context of more general debates about globalisation and current crises in emerging markets such as Brazil and East Asia.