"Duke of URL" <macbenahATkdsiDOTnet> wrote in message
news:1000ga9a4ce8ke9@corp.supernews.com...
> > The German car thingy is pure supply and demand. If Japanese want
> > to buy a foreign car, they want a German car. Which is only right,
> > anyone in their right minds would want a German car. If you can't
> > afford a German car, you buy a Toyota.
>
> haRUMPH. Excuse me, would you mind standing over there? Yes, over on
> that X in the middle of the parking lot. Now, just stay there while I
> rev my GMC half-ton up...

My first translation gig was as a translator/interpreter at New United
Motors Inc. (NUMI), a joint venture between Toyota and GM in Fremont, CA.
The Japanese engineers were almost fanatical about eliminating baratsuki
(variation). If you couldn't guarantee that every single car that came off
the line had the exact same performance, you lowered the spec until they all
did. This caused constant friction with the American engineers, who just
couldn't seem to understand such (to them) fanatical adherence to
uniformity.

I also personally got the impression that working at Toyota must be a kind
of religion, these guys eat sleep and breathe Just-In-Time and six Sigma.
Shaving a tenth of a yen off the cost of producing a bumper was a career
maker.

I also later had the chance to work with some German engineers. The
impression I got from them was that while Japanese engineers are obsessed
with eliminating baratsuki, German engineers are obsessed with perfection.

So basically, the impression I came away with after working with American,
Japanese, and German auto engineers is that if you buy a German car, you
know you're getting a good car. You buy a Japanese car, you know you're not
getting a lemon. You buy an American car, it's pretty much a crap shoot.

-- 
Regards,
Ryan Ginstrom