Like 1950s Detroit, Boeing Is Underestimating Emerging Japanese Competition

japanese_boeing.jpeg

At a welcoming banquet in Japan in the 1980s, Ford Motor F 0% chairman Philip Caldwell received a memorably double-edged compliment. “There is no secret about how we learned to do what we do, Mr. Caldwell,” said the head of Toyota Motor , Eiji Toyoda. “We learned it at the Rouge.”

[By Eamonn Fingleton | October 19, 2014 | Forbes]

Toyoda was referring to Ford’s fabled River Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan. In the early days of Japan’s rise, the Detroit auto companies had been famously complacent in helping information-gathering Japanese engineers. Nowhere did the Japanese learn more than at the River Rouge complex.

Now history seems to be repeating itself – this time in America’s ultimate manufacturing stronghold, aerospace. The politico-economic dynamics are déjà vu all over again. The industry is officially “targeted” by the Japanese government. And U.S. corporations seem  to be playing their allotted role to a T – as condescending, complacent buffoons.

To read the complete article, click here.

MADE IN AMERICA.

CPA is the leading national, bipartisan organization exclusively representing domestic producers and workers across many industries and sectors of the U.S. economy.

The latest CPA news and updates, delivered every Friday.

WATCH: WE ARE CPA

Get the latest in CPA news, industry analysis, opinion, and updates from Team CPA.