🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan4.164516.10926@ke4zv.uucp> gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman) writes:
>
>I gave an example of a "success" oriented program that went sour
>for the typical reason. If you want a megaprogram that came in on
>schedule and on budget despite thousands of engineering change
>orders during development, I'll point you to GM's Saturn line
>of automobiles. A less grandiose development program would be



[ Stuff Deleted]

Actually,  GM's Saturn is a success, only if you read the PR stuff.
Remember,  Saturn was proposed in 1980,  they didn't start selling
cars until 1990.  It cost over 5 billion dollars in capital to set up.
The vehicle is strictly equivalent to an average Japanese Sedan.

Now in this 10 year time period,  GM's market share has fallen 50%.
They've lost billions on the books,  tens of thousands of workers
have lost their jobs.  GM has given enormous management bonuses.

Saturn slipped budget and schedule, based on initial projections,  
they just re-estimated.  Also, in the same time,  the japanese cranked
out 4 new model cycles.  the saturn car is now 3 years old, is there
a plan for a new product, or will it take 10 years for another one.

I am sorry,  saturn is just too much like Shuttle for me.