GM Ontario plant uses fewest labor hours per vehicle

Toyota passed Nissan last year as the most efficient producer of vehicles in North America, according to the annual Harbour Report released Thursday. Also, the Big 3 are close to each other in terms of total hours needed to produce a vehicle. As a group, they continue to cut their labor hours and draw closer to Japanese automakers.

Toyota Motor Corp. vaulted ahead of its American and Japanese rivals to become the efficiency leader inNorth America. Ron Harbour, president of Harbour Consulting of Troy, Mich., said Toyota passed Nissan, the long-time leader in the annual study of productivity, by recording a 5.5-percent improvement last year. Harbour, however, also said the gap among the manufacturers, Japanese and American, had narrowed substantially.

There was good news for companies such as General Motors and Chrysler as well in this year's report. At Chrysler, for example, productivity has improved by more than 9 percent over the past three years, the biggest improvement recorded by any manufacturer. When measured over a five-year period, GM has made the biggest improvement. Without the big improvement, American manufacturers would be in a deep hole, added Harbour; the companies have made a substantial effort to eliminate the productivity gap that once prevailed in the auto industry. The biggest challenge the American companies faces now is the continuing drop in market share, which has left them with too much idle capacity.

Harbour said the surge in productivity last year that carried Toyota to the top of the chart was very impressive. In addition, the Toyota production system is impervious to management change, added Harbour. "They may have the most cash in the industry, they may be the most profitable, but they have convinced themselves that they're paupers...They are every day looking for how they can squeeze another dime out," he said.

Harbour said his firm studied information from 50 different plants to compile the 2005 edition of the report.