Mother of 2 loses everything in early morning fire ? Rebuilding fund update
Gwen Olson, single mother of 2 boys, lost her home and all their belongings in an early morning fire May 21st. The "Gwen Olsen Family Fund" is going very well and is still accepting donations for one more week through 6/16/07. Checks can be made payable to the ?Gwen Olson Family Fund?, in care of Seaway Community Bank, 66550 Gratiot Ave., Lenox MI 48050.
In addition, Main St. Caf? located at 68095 Main Street, Richmond Mi 48062, 586-727-9118, is still collecting new household items and gift cards on Gwen?s behalf.

Employee Recognition
The Huvaere Group would like to recognize those associates with employment anniversaries in June: John Beecherl, 2 years; Scott Kloss, 1 year; Mary Reese, 2 years; Ryan Rocia, 8 years; Tom Tessmer, 7 years; Dave Tacconelli, 7 years. Congratulations!

CPR Classes
The Richmond Lenox EMS has regularly scheduled CPR classes, usually on the 2nd Saturday of each month. The next scheduled class is Saturday June 9th. For additional info or to reserve a space in the class, contact Pat or Chris at 586-727-2184.

Chrysler Group Launches Production of All-new 2008 Chrysler Sebring Convertible at Sterling Heights Assembly Plant
-- Chrysler Group's Sterling Heights Assembly Plant adds a third vehicle: Chrysler Sebring Convertible
-- Chrysler Group's Flexible Manufacturing Strategy allows multiple products to be produced on one assembly line
-- Chrysler Sebring's three convertible top options, including vinyl, cloth or retractable hard top are an industry first

The Chrysler Group today announced the production launch of the all-new 2008 Chrysler Sebring Convertible, which will be built at Chrysler Group's Sterling Heights (Mich.) Assembly Plant (SHAP) alongside the Chrysler Sebring Sedan and the 2008 Dodge Avenger, launched earlier this year. The Sterling Heights Assembly Plant employs Chrysler Group's expanding Flexible Manufacturing Strategy (FMS). Flexible manufacturing allows the Company to bring its new vehicles to market more quickly and the Sterling Heights (Mich.) Assembly Plant (SHAP) to manufacture multiple products on one assembly line. "We are seeing a great deal of success at the Sterling Heights facility due to the commitment of our plant employees," said Frank Ewasyshyn, Executive Vice President - Manufacturing. "Their willingness to support and foster a small-team workplace model has delivered a successful third-vehicle launch.
The Sterling Heights Assembly Plant and Sterling (Heights) Stamping Plant were extensively retooled beginning in March 2006 to manage the complexity of building multiple models on one production line. The Chrysler Sebring Convertible program is part of the $500 million investment which included multiple plant upgrades to improve quality, productivity and worker ergonomics. $278 million was invested at Sterling Heights Assembly Plant to overhaul the body shop and improve the paint shop and assembly areas, including new tooling and about 620 new welding and material-handling robots. "With our Flexible Manufacturing Strategy, the assembly operation now has the capability to build multiple upper bodies and multiple vehicle families, allowing the flexibility to add new models or "cross-load" models from other plants in order to better meet market dynamics," said Robert Bowers, Plant Manager - Sterling Heights Assembly Plant.
Since the roll-out of Chrysler Group's Flexible Manufacturing Strategy in 2000, it has been the template for Chrysler Group plant modernization. Sterling Heights Assembly Plant and Sterling Stamping along with Belvidere Assembly Plant are the pioneers of this strategy allowing the company to bring the right products to the market at the right time. SHAP is now able to vary the production mix between three product models and pilot or test build a fourth.
"In addition, the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant can weld and assemble more than one product on the same line. These new capabilities will support the Company's pursuit of product leadership by providing flexibility and increase distinction between the Chrysler, Jeep(R) and Dodge brands," said Bowers.
In an effort to improve productivity and ergonomics, a "happy seat" or ergonomic assist seat, has been incorporated into the production of all vehicles at SHAP. This happy seat was developed based upon the need to secure four fasteners in the center console that were previously unreachable without workers getting in and out of the vehicle on their hands and knees. After benchmarking other Chrysler Group plants, it was determined that the happy seat was the best solution. Union and management teams worked together to design the seat to meet the ergonomic needs of workers and vehicle production. The seat is now utilized 100 percent by workers. The addition of this seat has ensured that anyone can now do the job, and is a significant ergonomic improvement over the previous method of assembly. In yet another example, an industry first "Spider Fixture" was developed by a joint team consisting of UAW members, Advanced Manufacturing Engineers, product engineers and convertible top supplier Karmann to set glass in the new Chrysler Sebring Convertible. This one-of-a-kind fixture utilizes laser sensors, improving productivity and consistency in setting front door glass and quarter glass.
The plant investment is just the latest in a long, cooperative partnership with the City of Sterling Heights. Through the DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund, the Company also has contributed to the sponsorship of the city library's childhood reading program and established an educational grant for scholarships to eligible high school graduate residents pursuing technical training programs. Chrysler Group also is a major sponsor of the annual Sterling fest Art and Jazz Fair celebration. In 2001 the Company donated the land at 17 and Van Dyke to the City to facilitate the construction of the main fire station.

Internet to become top channel for used car marketers
The Center for Media Research says that according to a new report from Borrell Associates, automotive ad spending will reach $31 billion this year, but total ad dollars will grow only 1.7 percent during the next five years, compared with an annual growth rate of 3.7 percent in the last five years.
Online spending for the industry will hit $2.8 billion in 2007 and represent 7.6 percent of all automotive advertising, an annual growth of 13 percent. Moreover, the Internet will become the top marketing channel for used-car marketers this year at the local ad level, surpassing newspapers for the first time. Used-car dealers are allocating 20 percent of their spending to the online channel, compared with 7.6 percent of the industry's total online ad budget.
Online car marketing will hit $4 billion by 2010, says the report, and become the second most-used medium for automotive advertisers, surpassing newspapers, cable, radio and direct mail and trailing only broadcast TV.
Budgets for offline auto ads in newspapers, direct mail and directories will decline by 20 percent each during the same period, the report indicates.
The report says that local car dealers will spend 29 percent of their online ad budget on online video and paid search this year, but will increase that proportion to 76 percent of online marketing by 2012. E-mail will also gain as a lead-generation tool, while display ads such as banners will decline.
Many shoppers are going directly to manufacturers' Web sites rather than to third parties, doing their early research online. The Internet is not yet effective at reaching car buyers still in the "dreaming" stage, the report says, adding that  manufacturers will use TV spots to sell their brands and then drive prospects to a Web location.

Ken Kline
Service Consultant

Ken's family:
Ken is married and has 2 kids, Jack age 3 and Lilly age 6 months.

If he wasn't at work, Ken would be:
"Home with my kids."

 Ken's Hometown:
"St. Clair Shores"

 Ken's favorite place to travel:
"Up North, Petoskey."

 Ken's first job:
"Grocery stock boy, Village Market in St. Clair Shores."

 Ken's favorite television how is:
"Soprano's"

 Ken's favorite place to dine is:
"Luigi's in Clinton Township."

Ken's favorite vehicle is:
"1980 Grand National"

Something you may not already know about Ken:
" I used to perform stand-up comedy."

Ken has been with us just over 3 years. Thank you Ken for being such an asset to The Huvaere Group!

Sad, but oh so true!
A Japanese company (Toyota ) and an American company (Ford) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day...the Japanese won by a mile!
The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing!!

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.
Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.
They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the "Rowing Team Quality First Program," with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices, and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won...by two miles!!

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced...to India.

Sad, but oh so true! But consider this:
Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming they can't make money paying American wages. Toyota has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants HERE INSIDE the US. The last quarter's results: Toyota makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses. Ford folks are still scratching their heads!
 

Today's Motivational Quote
"In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield."
Warren Buffett (1930 - )