So this post probably exposes my general ignorance on how the auto industry actually works, but I've often wondered why Detroit and the auto industry in general doesn't embrace a more flexible supply model like Dell?
How often have we all seen pictures like this in the last few months:
Thousands of cars, sitting idle in a port somewhere, all because the dealers that ordered them no longer have the demand to sell them? So, the auto industry builds to a hopeful demand, whereas Dell, Apple, and the PC industry by and large build on actual demand.
Case in point, just yesterday I received my shiny new Macbook Pro from Apple. My order was placed last Wednesday, whereby Apple sent the details to their factory in China (it was not stock), built it, tested it, and shipped it out to me. I received the unit in just under 1 business week.
Not saying Detroit could do the same, all Apple did was customize the CPU, RAM, and Hard disk. But on second thought, why not? If you want to buy a Volvo S80, you do have a litany of options to chose from, but more or less every car will have the same chassis, transmission, basic interior and dashboard, brakes, etc.
So surely someone could rock up to a dealership, test drive a standard model, then customize the car based on: color, interior color, seat type, engine size, and wheel size. Dealer could then transmit the order to the factory, where they had some shells already built, drop in the engine, tires, seats, etc, then roll it into the paint shop then wala! You have your very own custom built car. As long as the factory could get the car to the dealer inside of a month, you'd have one happy consumer.
Now, I do understand that any assembly line has to go through some sort of hardening phase, where the first 100 cars or so are thoroughly QA'd to ensure the line is working properly, so the entire process can't be 100% flexible. But if you were given a choice to have a cheaper, stock car with basic features, delivered to your door in 6 weeks, vs. a slightly more expensive option to have a customized vehicle, delivered to your door in 4 weeks, surely that would be a workable solution vs. having to haggle just for the privilege of driving a vehicle off the lot today AND having to spend your tax dollars every few years to bail out the industry for their poor practices?
Also, consider how that could impact the dealership themselves? Instead of requiring a large real estate footprint on the outskirts of town, dealerships could be just slightly larger than your local mechanic (as they wouldn't need the space to store fallow vehicles).
Again, I do not profess to posses any knowledge whatsoever about the industry in general. ;)
