By Christie Schweinsberg
June 22, 2005

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – It has been “an ongoing conversation” to get some auto
makers to include all their North American plants in Harbour Consulting
Inc.'s annual Harbour Report on productivity, says President Ron Harbour.

The 2005 North American report recently was released with some Toyota Motor
Corp., Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. plants notably
absent, as is the sole Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc. plant in
Vance, AL.

As a result, Toyota Motor Mfg. North America Inc., Nissan North America
Inc., Honda of America Mfg. Inc. and Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc.
(MBUSI) are not in the report's overall assembly rankings by company.

The Japanese Big Three are unwilling to open the doors to all of their
North American plants, and MBUSI officials say they rely on their own
internal indices.

Toyota's Princeton, IN, truck plant, which builds the Tundra fullsize
pickup truck and Sequoia fullsize SUV, never has participated in the
Harbour Report.

“It's been a constant discussion about Princeton and they have just not
agreed to do it yet,” Harbour tells Ward's here at a recent conference.

Harbour says he has tried to appeal to Toyota's sense of integrity by
saying, “If you're going to see everybody else's (results) then you have to
put all of your (plants) in.” It hasn't worked thus far.

“As a company we value the Harbour Report,” says a Toyota spokesman. “It
is
a very positive way for the industry to benchmark productivity. However,
some of our plants and lines currently do not participate in the report.
The decision is evaluated on an ongoing basis and it's indeed possible
these plants and lines will participate in the future.”

For the report, Harbour Consulting surveys auto manufacturing facilities,
compiling how many hours it takes a plant on average to build a particular
model.

Because the report is made public in North America, Harbour says he is
unable to refuse to provide non-compliant auto manufacturers with their
competitors' results.

“We don't have the leverage (in North America) that we have in other parts
of the world,” he says. In contrast, Harbour productivity reports in
Europe, Asia and South America are kept private.

“I know that Princeton is a good plant so it wouldn't make their numbers
any worse,” Harbour says, discounting the possibility it may not be as much
of a star performer as Toyota's other North American manufacturing
facilities. All participated in this year's survey, save for the Lexus line
at its Cambridge, Ont., Canada, facility, which in 2004 was ramping up
production of the second-generation RX 330 cross/utility vehicle, and its
newly opened plant in Tijuana, Mexico, which builds the Tacoma compact
pickup truck.

Honda's Alliston No.1 plant in Canada, its new Lincoln, AL, plant and its
El Salto, Mexico, plant did not participate in this year's report.

On the topic of Mexico, Harbour takes issue with Nissan for not including
its plants in Aguascalientes and Cuernavaca. Nissan's stance is Mexico is
not part of North America and therefore the omission of the two facilities
is not “comparable” to omitting a plant in the U.S.
“The last geography class I had, Mexico was in North America,” Harbour
says. He notes General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group all
include their Mexican plants.

“So why not (Nissan)? Ultimately, I either exclude the Mexico plants from
the Big Three or get Nissan to comply. It's been a struggle.”

Unlike Toyota, Harbour says Nissan's annual productivity score would be
harmed if the two facilities were included.

Including Aguascalientes and Cuernavaca “would make their numbers worse and
I still believe that that's one of the reasons they don't want to put
(them) in,” he says.

Nissan did not include its new Canton, MS, plant in this year's report, but
Harbour says it will be next year.

Despite posts like RP made about using US-content, posts I have made with figures from the Federal Trade Commission, and a bazillion other posts that argue the long-term damage we do to our own domestic economy, people still flock to the Toyota dealer to buy these f***ing appliances and stop at the first gas-station they come to and spend $2 on one of those American Flag magnets or the "Support Our Troops" ribbons and go put it on their friggin' rice burner, and try to convince ME that they got the best value for their money