programcomputer
Well-known member
On this matter IMHO....
Well,
All I can say is that Maytag is their own worst enemy and has been for years. Forever now up until a few years ago; have been operating under the assumption that it's 1958 and everything is peachy keen and ro-say and that their products are still like those made at that point.
Their newly minted "Wall-Street selected AND approved" managerial staff in Newton are interestingly obsessed now, LONG after others painfully went under, or went thru massive restructuring to become:
Manufacturing Competitive- Closing down major plants in North Canton Ohio, Galesburg Illinois, and quite possibly Newton Iowa (here soon) who for decades made these brands famous for good work ethic, excellent build quality...yet again over paying workers high wages and benefits back from the times when things were flush for these brands, and lulling them into believing that the good times would last forever. So rather than trying to ask them to "work" with the company, they ended up helping them "work against" the company..a double edged sword to be sure...but when their paid and compensated like it's good ol 1958 in the year 2005 how are they to know any better...
Instead of asking these people to take approriate pay cuts and maybe work for $15.00-20.00 an hour with benefits and forgo the $30.00 some dollar an hour jobs...in order to KEEP their work AND livelyhood which will dissappear for all time now due these problems Maytag Corporation took another less Ballsy tact. Maytag decided for itself along with it's other "helpless under their control divisions" aka Hoover, instead of fighting with their greedy unions and employees who THEY mislead, ass ended these hard working yet greedy and selfish workers who, were under the assumption that all was well..became surly and defiant and proved thru strikes, slowdowns and stoppages that they cant do what they did before..nor could OR would they do it for less...Again a double edged sword. Neither side would give or co-operate.
So Maytag called upon those "Crazy" yet willing persons in China, Mexico and Canada who are so willing to do this work FOR us at $10.00 and hour and MAYBE a benefit or two, and started plant deactivation across the country and started importing these wares and passing them off as true Maytag and Hoover and Magic Chef even.
And so, to get it in the "happy box' where they were "attempting" to make money went to them "willy nilly"...and we loose. Everyone. They had had decades to get this under control and they diddn't. And those who finally got the picture at the few remaining plants around the US began to work hard at producing crap that is still american made so to speak, but with MAJOR foriegn content still pass this stuff off as what it used to be. And consumers are tired of being played off as stupid.
After squeezing out those in management who had made Hoover and Maytag famous thru the 1980's- Yes this they did and they also did a top to bottom reorganization of the entire corporate sturcture thruought 2002, yet they still allowed the company to drift along on an outdated and aimless corporate policy; and bring in insipid neyophytes who's college educations in "Lean Sigma", and brutal maagemetal strategies like deactivation of Hoover's Corporate stores for example rule the roost.
Pushing out Competitive Products that arent what they used to be- It's strange but these companies made their mark on society with being the best of the best of the best sir. The fact that the corporation has been deliberatly been trading their good's as if they were still built like the "1958 Maytag's and Hoovers" level's of quality, is stupid, image bruising and confusing to people.
Becasue Mister John Jones out there in Iowa purchases a Maytag Neptune washer and dryer becasue he's a patriotic fellow who buys american asnd still believes by company advertising that thier still made out of cast aluminum and work for decades finds after a year that his washer will no longer work properly becasue of it's electronic control board failing. Becasue mister jones is under the assumption that it's american made and a iron horse Maytag is pissed off and leaves the fold forever becasue after the third control board is installed he's about ready to shoot Ol' Lonley and buy a LG from Best Buy down the road...and eventually he does this and leaves the fold for good.
Maytag has consistently passed off crap as real genuine Maytag since at least 1990, and has consistently played their previous image card for too long....rather like Cadillac selling a Cimmaron, but in this case it was Maytag selling junk from their Magic Chef division. They had consistently rode out on products that were technologically state of the are in 1966,and when replaced with cheaper or foreign made stuff like a Magic Chef washer sold as if it was the old 1966 Washpower Maytag an intersting thing happened. They bombed becasue they were breaking in homes all over America.
All in all,in the end everything they tried to do FAILED miserably and now they are are ready to activate the doomesday machine and do ANOTHER complete reorganization with the help of a NEW financial benefactor who may actualy get it right this time. Becasue no matter what their current formula doesn't work, nor really can it's old formula work either...
Their corporate strategy failed and no one is really SURE anymore of what their public image is supposed to be.
This is where IMHO.. Whirlpool and to a marked extent Frigidaire are undoubtedly getting it right...building stuff to a higher level with a more willing and reduced labor force with a more understanding union...but this is becasue the took these matters to the rug during the period when everyone else was in the early 1980's, when Maytag and Hoover were still busy counting their cash and not planning for a strange and unknowing future.
I really think that even if the Hoover Convertible, Dialamatic, and Celebrity were brought back along with Maytag Wringer Washers, halo of Heat Dryers, Helical Drive Pushbutton Automatics and were built EXACTLY like they used to couldnt even stem the tide. And besides at current rates they would all cost a mint to buy...nor are they nearly as sophisticated as things made today, and as consumers EXPECT them to be.
Even tho tho they may seem to need this, the market wouldnt hold for a machine of that nature considering what is going on with goverments insipid stupid and unnescescary involvement in "efficency" Yes we have a resouce problem, BUT do all washers made today HAVe to be front loaders and boring No but they are and so it goes .I cannot believe that they are making Hoover the culprit of their nasty corporate morass tho this really torques me to the nth degree.
When I accepted the position with Hoover in 2001, the " Hoover Company, Division of Maytag" so to speak was still intact, and was in a somewhat autononymous form. The division was doing what it could to make the corporation more competitive but yet Maytag was still NOT happy with the Good ol way they were still running Hoover. So in with the Corn Huskers from Newton and Hoover was never the same after. The whole managerial staff was either replaced or let go, and the whole managerial operation moved lock stock and barrel to 403 W. Fourth Street in Newton. Leaving N.Canton with a gaping mouth and a high unemployment rate.
I wouldnt be suprised if Whirlpool, being the only manufacturer besides the AB Electrolux Frigidaire Division to gain in market share, and consumer satisfaction over Maytag Corporation diddn't become in control somehow of this lost entity. In fact maybe just maybe if they HAD the opportunity to work out what is obviously the current formula for sucess at Whirlpool Corporation...Maytag, Hoover, Dixie Narco and even Magic Chef may AGAIN be able to regain lost ground and some day mean something again.
Chad
Well,
All I can say is that Maytag is their own worst enemy and has been for years. Forever now up until a few years ago; have been operating under the assumption that it's 1958 and everything is peachy keen and ro-say and that their products are still like those made at that point.
Their newly minted "Wall-Street selected AND approved" managerial staff in Newton are interestingly obsessed now, LONG after others painfully went under, or went thru massive restructuring to become:
Manufacturing Competitive- Closing down major plants in North Canton Ohio, Galesburg Illinois, and quite possibly Newton Iowa (here soon) who for decades made these brands famous for good work ethic, excellent build quality...yet again over paying workers high wages and benefits back from the times when things were flush for these brands, and lulling them into believing that the good times would last forever. So rather than trying to ask them to "work" with the company, they ended up helping them "work against" the company..a double edged sword to be sure...but when their paid and compensated like it's good ol 1958 in the year 2005 how are they to know any better...
Instead of asking these people to take approriate pay cuts and maybe work for $15.00-20.00 an hour with benefits and forgo the $30.00 some dollar an hour jobs...in order to KEEP their work AND livelyhood which will dissappear for all time now due these problems Maytag Corporation took another less Ballsy tact. Maytag decided for itself along with it's other "helpless under their control divisions" aka Hoover, instead of fighting with their greedy unions and employees who THEY mislead, ass ended these hard working yet greedy and selfish workers who, were under the assumption that all was well..became surly and defiant and proved thru strikes, slowdowns and stoppages that they cant do what they did before..nor could OR would they do it for less...Again a double edged sword. Neither side would give or co-operate.
So Maytag called upon those "Crazy" yet willing persons in China, Mexico and Canada who are so willing to do this work FOR us at $10.00 and hour and MAYBE a benefit or two, and started plant deactivation across the country and started importing these wares and passing them off as true Maytag and Hoover and Magic Chef even.
And so, to get it in the "happy box' where they were "attempting" to make money went to them "willy nilly"...and we loose. Everyone. They had had decades to get this under control and they diddn't. And those who finally got the picture at the few remaining plants around the US began to work hard at producing crap that is still american made so to speak, but with MAJOR foriegn content still pass this stuff off as what it used to be. And consumers are tired of being played off as stupid.
After squeezing out those in management who had made Hoover and Maytag famous thru the 1980's- Yes this they did and they also did a top to bottom reorganization of the entire corporate sturcture thruought 2002, yet they still allowed the company to drift along on an outdated and aimless corporate policy; and bring in insipid neyophytes who's college educations in "Lean Sigma", and brutal maagemetal strategies like deactivation of Hoover's Corporate stores for example rule the roost.
Pushing out Competitive Products that arent what they used to be- It's strange but these companies made their mark on society with being the best of the best of the best sir. The fact that the corporation has been deliberatly been trading their good's as if they were still built like the "1958 Maytag's and Hoovers" level's of quality, is stupid, image bruising and confusing to people.
Becasue Mister John Jones out there in Iowa purchases a Maytag Neptune washer and dryer becasue he's a patriotic fellow who buys american asnd still believes by company advertising that thier still made out of cast aluminum and work for decades finds after a year that his washer will no longer work properly becasue of it's electronic control board failing. Becasue mister jones is under the assumption that it's american made and a iron horse Maytag is pissed off and leaves the fold forever becasue after the third control board is installed he's about ready to shoot Ol' Lonley and buy a LG from Best Buy down the road...and eventually he does this and leaves the fold for good.
Maytag has consistently passed off crap as real genuine Maytag since at least 1990, and has consistently played their previous image card for too long....rather like Cadillac selling a Cimmaron, but in this case it was Maytag selling junk from their Magic Chef division. They had consistently rode out on products that were technologically state of the are in 1966,and when replaced with cheaper or foreign made stuff like a Magic Chef washer sold as if it was the old 1966 Washpower Maytag an intersting thing happened. They bombed becasue they were breaking in homes all over America.
All in all,in the end everything they tried to do FAILED miserably and now they are are ready to activate the doomesday machine and do ANOTHER complete reorganization with the help of a NEW financial benefactor who may actualy get it right this time. Becasue no matter what their current formula doesn't work, nor really can it's old formula work either...
Their corporate strategy failed and no one is really SURE anymore of what their public image is supposed to be.
This is where IMHO.. Whirlpool and to a marked extent Frigidaire are undoubtedly getting it right...building stuff to a higher level with a more willing and reduced labor force with a more understanding union...but this is becasue the took these matters to the rug during the period when everyone else was in the early 1980's, when Maytag and Hoover were still busy counting their cash and not planning for a strange and unknowing future.
I really think that even if the Hoover Convertible, Dialamatic, and Celebrity were brought back along with Maytag Wringer Washers, halo of Heat Dryers, Helical Drive Pushbutton Automatics and were built EXACTLY like they used to couldnt even stem the tide. And besides at current rates they would all cost a mint to buy...nor are they nearly as sophisticated as things made today, and as consumers EXPECT them to be.
Even tho tho they may seem to need this, the market wouldnt hold for a machine of that nature considering what is going on with goverments insipid stupid and unnescescary involvement in "efficency" Yes we have a resouce problem, BUT do all washers made today HAVe to be front loaders and boring No but they are and so it goes .I cannot believe that they are making Hoover the culprit of their nasty corporate morass tho this really torques me to the nth degree.
When I accepted the position with Hoover in 2001, the " Hoover Company, Division of Maytag" so to speak was still intact, and was in a somewhat autononymous form. The division was doing what it could to make the corporation more competitive but yet Maytag was still NOT happy with the Good ol way they were still running Hoover. So in with the Corn Huskers from Newton and Hoover was never the same after. The whole managerial staff was either replaced or let go, and the whole managerial operation moved lock stock and barrel to 403 W. Fourth Street in Newton. Leaving N.Canton with a gaping mouth and a high unemployment rate.
I wouldnt be suprised if Whirlpool, being the only manufacturer besides the AB Electrolux Frigidaire Division to gain in market share, and consumer satisfaction over Maytag Corporation diddn't become in control somehow of this lost entity. In fact maybe just maybe if they HAD the opportunity to work out what is obviously the current formula for sucess at Whirlpool Corporation...Maytag, Hoover, Dixie Narco and even Magic Chef may AGAIN be able to regain lost ground and some day mean something again.
Chad
