What are YOU doing here?

I’ve been wrestling with the prevailing negative attitudes towards the Big Three…in reality an increasingly derogatory expression of contempt for the U.S.-based car manufacturers. Granted they may have not been the best suppliers over the years but my passion for supplier development has me rooting for them and their associated stakeholders. And yes, I have been a proud Ford owner for the past dozen years. I’m certainly not trendy in my Audi-like town but I like my dealer and the concept of supporting American manufacturing.

I worry that the collateral damage to their failure would disrupt supply chains all over the world, not just automobile related suppliers. So many suppliers are having business issues today that any impact on any market segment would spell disaster for a whole range of companies. I was always interested in the market segmentation of my suppliers. Even though I was buying stuff to make semiconductor capital equipment I was amazed at the spread of industries. Medical, defense, aerospace, and yes, automotive. Strategic thinking was that if one segment was down others would be up. It still makes sense to me.

Perhaps what upsets me the most is the disdain for manufacturing, and not just the automotive manufacturers. We give many, many billions of dollars to the financial services industry with seemingly little collateral or oversight. But when it comes to manufacturing we need to appoint a ‘czar’, or babysitter, to make sure that the money is spent right, and relatively small money at that. I guess we just can’t trust people who make things for a living.

We in supply management have fought a respect issues for all of our careers. Years ago I was walking through my mahogany themed marketing department when one of the managers asked in a loud voice “what are YOU doing here?” as if this purchasing guy was a second class citizen in his own company.

As a fan of U.S. based manufacturing, I am feeling the same way these days. And I’m tired of it.