Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 14, 1992 TAG: 9202140124
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DETROIT LENGTH: Medium
CAR LOSES BRAKES; APOLOGY COMES FROM FACTORY WORKER
Mike Wilson, a GM brake assembler, was a little scared when he found himself on the phone with a customer whose new car's brakes had failed.But, like it or not, Wilson found his job had another dimension - customer satisfaction representative.
A decade ago, automakers rolled cars off assembly lines and pretty much forgot about them. Not anymore.
At General Motors Corp.'s Buick City assembly plant in Flint, where Wilson works, a program has been in place for the past five years linking factory workers and dealers.
"The days of just being an assembler are kind of done," said Tony Otero, Buick City's director of manufacturing engineering and quality. "We started when we felt very strongly we needed to bring the customer viewpoint onto the [assembly] line. The hourly people really felt that they needed to know what's going on."
Wilson's supervisor, Rich Richardson, learned last week that John Jacobs of Columbia, Md., had a serious brake failure in his 1992 Buick LeSabre with just 2,500 miles on it.
Richardson intended to phone the dealer but inadvertently dialed Jacobs' home.
Jacobs said he pushed the car's brake pedal two weeks ago and his foot went to the floor. Jacobs managed to get the car home and called Buick representatives.
Richardson, who supervises brake installation, talked with Jacobs. Then he turned the call over to Wilson.
"It scared me when Rich came out to tell me what I had done," Wilson said. "The man lost his brakes.
"I just felt so bad and was so concerned that something could have happened to the gentleman. I apologized and expressed my concern for his safety and let him know that we were very concerned about getting quality out the [plant] door."
That impressed Jacobs.
"I am very delighted that GM is concerned enough to talk directly to the consumer," he said. "I know that I am very lucky that I was in a situation where I didn't have to test the air bag."
Chrysler Corp. has a similar program linking dealers and factory workers in each of its U.S. plants, said spokesman Chris Hosford.
Ford Motor Co. spokesman Gene Koch said there was no formal nationwide company program linking hourly workers directly with customers or dealers.