Some of the most successful Internet companies have one characteristic in common. They all seek to organize connections of ideas, relationships, or goods. Google sorts and organizes websites and advertising, allowing us to quickly and efficiently find the pages that we are looking for and allowing companies to put discreet Viagra ads next to our searches for "can't get it up". Facebook manages our relationships, interests, statuses, and allows us to track which of our friends have put on 30lbs since high school graduation. Wikipedia stores and updates facts and knowledge including vitally important information such as the infinite monkey theorem and former president “-isms”. Craigslist organizes classified ads and prostitution. eBay determines the amount of money people are willing to pay for an electric yodelling pickle and other commercial goods. Twitter has centralized thoughts and conversations of the unemployed or otherwise prominent thinkers. Digg, tracks how many people like websites which ask us to like them. Meetup, organizes interest groups and other pyramid schemes. Kidding aside, all of these sites provide value by organization. That is why we love them. As our lives become more organized, we can more easily connect with thoughts, people, or products that are relative to our own interests and passions. As we become more focused on our passions, we live more enriched lives. As our lives become more enriched, we become addicted to more organization. Put this down, I dare you. OK, now that half of the net-bred ADD readers out there are now checking their horoscopes, let's make a point:
Of the above mentioned institutions, I find Google and Facebook to be the most interesting and well suited for world domination. Let’s take Facebook as an example. It is centered around, well, faces; People. All of those people have characteristics:
- Connections: family, friends, co-workers
- Fixed Data: email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, work addresses
- Common Organizations: high schools, cities, clubs
- Media: pictures, videos
- Timing: events
- Value: how many friends you have, if you make them laugh
- Quality Assessment: how many friends write on your wall on your birthday
Great, so I've described what you already know about Facebook, right? Well here comes the pitch: In the auto industry, as in many manufacturing industries, information is centered around, well, autos; their products. Genius, right? Well let's take that a step further. Autos are made of parts. Those parts, about 15,000 in one vehicle, are supplied by many different companies. Those parts have characteristics, just like people on Facebook:
- Connections: supplier, customers, developers
- Fixed Data: part number, production location, delivery location
- Common Organizations: specifications, class of product, standards
- Media: product advertisement
- Timing: development milestones, delivery dates/quantities
- Value: current pricing, how you can become cheaper
- Quality Assessment: how many failed parts/million does the part have
OK, who is interested in a facebook of parts? Well it is boring to many, I know, but I can also tell you that by my personal estimate, over 90% of the work done in the auto industry is waste due to attempting to organize and re-organize the above listed information. Worse than that, decisions are made based on such limited information and by so few people that it is inevitable that the wrong products are created according to the ebb and flow of the rapidly changing customer tastes.
This information needs to be public, open and accessible. elegantly organized. In fact, you practically own it already. An outrage you say? How could this be public, it's proprietary information; intellectual property; the auto industry's secret sauce. Well, we can discuss more of the nitty gritty later. For now, just think how much that Facebook connection with the girl who sat three rows down from you in middle school gym class has added value to your life. Well, OK, maybe not, but in the industry that connection could lead to a product improvement, better quality, or the realization that people just don't want or need that part or product. Detroit, I beg you to tear down your walls, open your gates and let your products converse. Connect with that girl from gym class and you may be surprised to hear what she has to say about you.
It's no secret that Detroit has problems. We know it; the world knows it. It's nothing new. Recalling back to a business trip that I was on in 2005 in the city of Shenzen, China just across the bridge from Hong Kong, I was approached by a shrewd paper napkin salesmen. He was well travelled and knew how to traverse the conversations of the many westerners whom he connected with. When told where I was from, he gave the wide-eyed universal violence sign of the thumb triggered, finger pointing, hand-gun. No words were necessary. We both knew; Detroit has problems.
Gloom is such a feeling of second nature here that people are surprised to hear good news. A good friend's father, a year ago, was forced into early retirement after having worked at a GM plant since he was 17. That friend's father and I were sitting together watching ABC News one day; bonding. The program eventually came around to GM. "Which plant did they close." he asked. He hadn't heard the punchline, an uptick actually. GM had announced earlier that day that they wouldn't be needing the 2 billion dollars that had previously been set aside for their cash drain. A small victory, where victories are hard to come by. "Actually, they just refused some government funding." I replied. "Oh." he said with indifference. This was not news. News is when one of his comrades takes the fall, loses another job. Another family gets put to the grindstone and they are forced to try to make ends meet. That is news. Detroit news.
ABC had moved on to a clip about some laid-off GM employees who were now volunteering to teach children in their newly found spare time. The ending punchline: "...maybe someday they will need a return favor." I suppose this was the media's feeble attempt to give UAW workers some credit. Credit where credit is due. "That's where we build our vans." my friend's father announced. He was bleeding pride. You could smell it through his pores. "Good people." he said. Good people indeed. Good people who have good families and good children. They taught their kids manners and how to live within their means. Remember the 30-year mortgage? Yes, these are the people that actually paid them off and didn't get home equity loans. They sent their kids to college for better education and always put others first. They are forthright, honest people. Detroit people.
Detroit, I'm bleeding with you, and I also bleed pride. But Pride alone cannot save this industry. In this blog I hope to provide insight on how to fix the auto industry at the root causes: Communication and Design. Hint: It involves openness and the web. Social interactivity and crowdsourcing. All of the constructs of a successful web2.0 entity, neatly packed together. In the words of the Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, elegantly organized.
I hope to open the heart of the industry for all to understand and feedback on. Not as a journalist from NYC with idealist web-views (Sorry Jeff Jarvis, loved the book though) or an Alabama politician. I work for a German auto supplier on driver's assistance products that we are developing for GM. This work is done together with GM at the infamous 'Tech Center' in Warren, MI; the main development center for GM vehicles. I am not afraid to say that if communication and design are the problem, then I too am part of that problem. Detroit, it's time to move forward. Listen and open your minds and you can learn the ways to carry your industry to the next level. By digging in as you always have, on the backs of hard-working Americans. Good people. Detroit people.
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