Auto Union to return

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:57 pm

The Auto Union name is seen to return with the merging of Porsche and Volkswagen once again. Two supervisory board members expressed confidence that the deal would be completed shortly and that eventually, the Auto Union name would be adopted. Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn had provided assurances that Porsche will still be an independent brand. The board member also confirmed that questions over valuation had already been resolved. The merger is expected to be finalized at VW’s board meeting today with the ratification of VW’s purchase of a 49% stake in Porsche. The board member added that the amount of the deal will be decided after due diligence. This is an ironic turn of events as Porsche had originally sought to take over VW; however, its attempts to do so led it to incur more than 10 billion euros of debt.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:49 pm

Seems very odd. Especially as "Audi" is the only part remaining of the orig "Auto Union" and the four ring logo used by Audi is the Auto Union logo (represents the four companies the joined to form Auto Union).

I can't think of a single reason other than people just don't love the VW name. So basically rename VW "Auto Union". "VW" then becomes just one of the brands along with Porsche.

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:36 pm

Does this mean that every new Porsche will come with its Check Engine Light already illuminated? :lol:

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:51 pm

Karl Shultz wrote:

Does this mean that every new Porsche will come with its Check Engine Light already illuminated? :lol:

and the driver side headlight either dim or completely out.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:46 am

Marty Howard wrote:

Karl Shultz wrote:

Does this mean that every new Porsche will come with its Check Engine Light already illuminated? :lol:

and the driver side headlight either dim or completely out.

You know my #1 worry about this entire thing with VW and Porsche is that they really might miss out on the positive impacts that Porsche could have brought to the rest of VW.

Wendelin Wiedeking brought in Toyota in the early 90's to have them teach Porsche the lean manufacturing/constant improvement process "Kaizen". It was embraced by management and the workers and proved to be very successful at Porsche. Frankly I think the changes that Porsche would bring to VW are what really scared VW (particularly the workers). It's unfortunate that Wiedeking screwed it all up at the last moment and the purchase of VW fell apart. I think he could have had a really positive impact on the entire VW group. It doesn't help that he was up against Ferdinand Piëch who is one of the shrewdest in the industry. Time will tell if any of the Kaizen concepts will bleed over from Porsche to the rest of VW.

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:42 am

Kaizen concepts are actually Demmings proceedures. Toyota recites Demmings and his teaching almost verbose from his Post WWII restructuring efforts. The sad point is the US auto industry paid and sent Demmings over, but didn't even listen to him themselves.

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

Marty Howard wrote:

Karl Shultz wrote:

Does this mean that every new Porsche will come with its Check Engine Light already illuminated? :lol:

and the driver side headlight either dim or completely out.

It happens ...

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:34 pm

Marty Howard wrote:

Kaizen concepts are actually Demmings proceedures. Toyota recites Demmings and his teaching almost verbose from his Post WWII restructuring efforts. The sad point is the US auto industry paid and sent Demmings over, but didn't even listen to him themselves.

We never are very good at listening to our smart people.

Anyhow, I also like how "Piggly Wiggly" factors into how Just in Time came about as part of the Toyota Production System....

Wikipedia wrote:

Toyota received their inspiration for the system, not from the American automotive industry (at that time the world's largest by far), but from visiting a supermarket. This occurred when a delegation from Toyota (led by Ohno) visited the United States in the 1950s. The delegation first visited several Ford Motor Company automotive plants in Michigan but, despite Ford being the industry leader at that time, found many of the methods in use to be not very effective. They were mainly appalled by the large amounts of inventory on site, by how the amount of work being performed in various departments within the factory was uneven on most days, and the large amount of rework at the end of the process.

However, on a subsequent visit to a Piggly Wiggly, the delegation was inspired by how the supermarket only reordered and restocked goods once they’d been bought by customers. Toyota applied the lesson from Piggly Wiggly by reducing the amount of inventory they would hold only to a level that its employees would need for a small period of time, and then subsequently reorder. This would become the precursor of the now-famous Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory system.

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