Could Japan's misfortune be Detroit's gain?

**DetroitPlanner** · March-17-11, 09:00 AM

Many parts used in the manuacturing of automobiles in the United States get imported from Japan. Could this be seen as an advantage to the thousands of tool and die shops and part plants already operating in our region?

I know it is a bit macabre to try to profit off of anothers misfortune, but we do have the know-how here.

DetroitPole · March-17-11, 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Many parts used in the manuacturing of automobiles in the United States get imported from Japan. Could this be seen as an advantage to the thousands of tool and die shops and part plants already operating in our region?

I know it is a bit macabre to try to profit off of anothers misfortune, but we do have the know-how here.

Yeah, I think this is pretty awful. The death toll is mounting by the thousands and we're already talking about one-upping them on auto parts manufacturing? Maybe some dudes at the plant could get some overtime out of the deal? Awesome! Just in time to take the boat out of storage!
You know this hit less than a week ago.
I can't believe everybody flipped out about my post on the Ford thread and this shit is the norm here.
I hope and pray the lives and livelihoods of the Japanese people are returned to normal as soon as possible.

**Richard** · March-17-11, 09:15 AM

Business is business and it is a valid question as there is 4 weeks of supply in the pipeline concerning supply on many different fronts,many plants are idle in Japan right now costing millions and many workers not being able to go to work because of a broken supply chain thus hindering the rebuilding effort.

DetroitPole · March-17-11, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by Richard

Business is business and it is a valid question as there is 4 weeks of supply in the pipeline concerning supply on many different fronts,many plants are idle in Japan right now costing millions and many workers not being able to go to work because of a broken supply chain thus hindering the rebuilding effort.

Woah, that's one long, unreadable sentence.

Business is business?
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/20...math_woman.jpg

**Richard** · March-17-11, 09:40 AM

All of this devastation and you are worried about my sentence structure.

So based on your theory if for instance after Katrina stuck New Orleans then the rest of the United States should have shut down,how does that help in any way?

Nobody is disputing the sorrow or devastation but to say that placing the rest of the country on hold which would further add to a bad situation is about as asinine as playing sentence structure police in a public forum.

**DetroitPlanner** · March-17-11, 09:46 AM

Someone is going to need to provide these parts.

This is a bit like when they tell you in the airplane to secure your mask before you help others. We need to always look to keep our main economy floating while transitioning and diversifying to a more diversified job base.

We can't reverse what has happened due to a natural disaster. We should do what we can to help Japan but to be honest they are not going to be in shape to deliver these parts.

I don't recall the japanese doing much to help us in Detroit out as they took our jobs in the 1970's through the 1990's. Business is based upon taking advantage of situations, thats why I work for government.

DetroitPole · March-17-11, 09:52 AM

Originally Posted by Richard

All of this devastation and you are worried about my sentence structure.

So based on your theory if for instance after Katrina stuck New Orleans then the rest of the United States should have shut down,how does that help in any way?

Nobody is disputing the sorrow or devastation but to say that placing the rest of the country on hold which would further add to a bad situation is about as asinine as playing sentence structure police in a public forum.

Please quote me as to where I said the country should be put on hold or shut down.

The entire premise of the thread is "Could Japan's misfortune be Detroit's gain?"
That is what I disagree with.

lilpup · March-17-11, 09:56 AM

It depends upon how fast shops can retool [[likely not fast enough) and whether or not the suppliers have exclusive contracts. In the long run, though, if pricing is comparable I can see companies building redundancy into their supply chains.

**English** · March-17-11, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitPole

The entire premise of the thread is "Could Japan's misfortune be Detroit's gain?"
That is what I disagree with.

I disagree with it as well. Sure, there are many times when the misfortune of others benefits one directly or indirectly, but decent people didn't used to say so in polite company. I don't remember people in, say, Las Vegas or Florida saying after Katrina, "Oh great, we'll get more tourism," or those in Maine or California saying after the BP oil spill, "Wonderful, we're going to get huge increases in our seafood orders."

If the American auto business gets a break because of this, then fine, well, and good. American industries also benefited the last time their major industrial competitors were reduced to rubble. But the schadenfreude is a little macabre.

**DetroitPlanner** · March-17-11, 10:14 AM

Read this article and think about it,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110317...keworldeconomy

How far fetched would it be for Michigan to get a Prius plant? We have plenty of ecxess capacity here. Toyota had planned on building a prius factory somewhere south, but scrapped it. Now that they have no where to build it, and the United States is a prime market for it, why not build it here?

**Richard** · March-17-11, 10:23 AM

Granted it may call for different wording but it will most defiantly affect Detroit as Japan supplies China with all the little parts that are used in the products sent here.

As an example Japan supplies the computer parts to China for Dell and Toshiba including Blue Ray,DVD,flat screen tvs etc. So anybody or business that is connected in anyway has now become affected no matter where they are located in the world.

All of the appliance brands that are pretty much owned by one company that utilizes computer components which are pretty much everyone these days are now effected.

That is only a small example of what is about to happen in the world economy.

They are going to need help and if Detroit can be forward thinking and see how they can fit into the big picture it is a wise move as guaranteed if they do not then somebody else will.

Japan will finance their rebuilding through bonds if their economy stalls and their bond rating falls then what is happening now is going to be miniscule compared to the ramifications of what can happen.

Supply and demand they need to fill orders to keep their economy floating wether the parts come from Detroit or Houston it does not matter.

http://www.suntimes.com/business/435...e-economy.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110317...20110317022630

"Most vehicles that are made the United States have at least one component if not more that comes from Japan," he said.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...l?s_cid=rss-14

**DetroitPlanner** · March-17-11, 11:12 AM

Looks like the Volt's transmission comes from Japan.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Long-P...n&asset=&ccode=

**Det_ard** · March-17-11, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Read this article and think about it,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110317...keworldeconomy

How far fetched would it be for Michigan to get a Prius plant? We have plenty of ecxess capacity here. Toyota had planned on building a prius factory somewhere south, but scrapped it. Now that they have no where to build it, and the United States is a prime market for it, why not build it here?

I don't forsee any non-domestic auto manufacturer building a plant in Michigan. Toyota already has 10 plants in the US and they've deliberately avoided Michigan every time. There's only one reason why they've carefully avoided the state considered the auto capital of the nation, an otherwise logical place to build a plant, and it's spelled U A W. If anyone thought our state's reputation was becoming more favorable in the eyes of foreign automakers, the resurgent energy in the labor movement starting with Wisconsin and continuing in Lansing will effectively shut the door to any consideration of locating a new auto plant here for the forseeable future.

**JBMcB** · March-17-11, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by lilpup

It depends upon how fast shops can retool [[likely not fast enough)

Depends on the part, quantity needed, and the size of the job shop. Small shops can tool up pretty fast, but have low throughput. You'd need a bunch working in parallel to get the throughput needed for a high speed production line. The problem is a lot of small shops are out of business due to consolidation. The larger parts suppliers are usually not as flexible - they are used to large volume orders with lots of lead time.

and whether or not the suppliers have exclusive contracts.

If I remember my contract law class correctly, contracts only hold up when there is a trade occurring. I don't think that, if a parts supplier cannot provide parts per some contract, they can prevent the customer from going somewhere else for them.

All that being said, the situation in Japan is awful and it would be better for everybody if it never happened. However, in any disaster, someone is going to benefit. After a tornado, construction companies tend to make out pretty well. It's not evil or wrong - it's just how things work.

**iheartthed** · March-17-11, 01:15 PM

I guess this is loosely related to the topic: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_836760.html

Michael Lewis wrote a good book called Liar's Poker. It was written in the late 1980s but it was also prophetic in describing the situation that lead to our economic meltdown circa 2008. [[Liar's Poker also describes the mortgage securitization structure that encourages the hollowing out of some American inner cities; he doesn't directly connect the dots, but if you know a bit about how the bond markets work then you can do your own inferring).

**Hypestyles** · March-17-11, 02:16 PM

...are there companies that will be forced to relocate some operations from japan... and possibly bring them to michigan/detroit area?

at the same time, are there recovery-assistance resources from firms based in michigan that can be made available for use in japan..?

DetroitDad · March-17-11, 03:17 PM

Entire cities are burning to the ground, civil wars are raging in the Middle East, environmental disasters are all but imminent, Charlie Sheen has said some bizarre things in an interview, AND THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT!?

I can't believe some people....

lilpup · March-17-11, 03:27 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

How far fetched would it be for Michigan to get a Prius plant? We have plenty of ecxess capacity here.

I think a battery cell plant would be more likely since almost all hybrid battery cells currently come from Japan. One stat I saw stated that Japan supplies 60% of all industrial silicon, especially semiconductors, worldwide.

**MikeM** · March-17-11, 03:34 PM

GM closing pickup plant for lack of Japan parts

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...-japan-parts/1

**Richard** · March-17-11, 03:35 PM

DD Thats what they are saying about rail in Detroit also, if one is not thinking about it another is.

**Richard** · March-17-11, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by MikeM

GM closing pickup plant for lack of Japan parts

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...-japan-parts/1

Which is exactly why it needs to be thought about now.

Is there any semi conductor places in Detroit?

**cman710** · March-17-11, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I guess this is loosely related to the topic: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_836760.html

Michael Lewis wrote a good book called Liar's Poker. It was written in the late 1980s but it was also prophetic in describing the situation that lead to our economic meltdown circa 2008. [[Liar's Poker also describes the mortgage securitization structure that encourages the hollowing out of some American inner cities; he doesn't directly connect the dots, but if you know a bit about how the bond markets work then you can do your own inferring).

I would also recommend Liar's Poker, as well as Lewis' latest book, The Big Short, which discusses the recent crisis in more detail. You do not need to be interested in finance to find it a good read, as Lewis is a great writer.

However, securitization structure was not the only factor encouraging the "hollowing out of some American inner cities." There were many other factors, such as political pressure to increase the number of loans to low-income individuals, bad practices by mortgage originators and mortgage brokers, and others.

More on topic for this thread, the tragic events in Japan only show how interconnected today's world is. While there can be some downsides to that, there are also many benefits we enjoy, too.

**BagAJellyDonuts** · March-17-11, 06:53 PM

I don't buy into the union labor is too expensive to locate in Michigan argument one bit.

New York isn't cheap. Doesn't stop the financial crooks from working out of there. And for all the absolute BS spread about American labor, US labor is a petty theft compared to the death row killers on Wall Street.

Personally, if things go poorly in Japan, I would opebly welcome investment and citizens from there to this area. Heck, Bing wants to pay cops to move into town, he ought to be buying plane tickets for anybody willing to fly over from across the Pacific.

**East Detroit** · March-17-11, 09:22 PM

Originally Posted by Det_ard

I don't forsee any non-domestic auto manufacturer building a plant in Michigan. Toyota already has 10 plants in the US and they've deliberately avoided Michigan every time. There's only one reason why they've carefully avoided the state considered the auto capital of the nation, an otherwise logical place to build a plant, and it's spelled U A W.

Got a citation for your opinion stated as fact?

Also, are you sure that none of the Toyota facilities use UAW labor?

**Whitehouse** · March-17-11, 09:45 PM

Toyota closed it's 12 plants to save elctricity until March 22. That means about 97000 cars less will be made. Honda was hit much more. That picture of thos new cars on the docks waiting to be shipped but now swepped away by the wave were Honda's. The motorbike devision was hit much worse. Subaru and Lexus toook some same measures as Toyota.

I would not call Japan's misfortune a gain for Detroit. Many lives were lost, I would not want to profit from that...