Tom LaSorda of Chrysler: If only all executives were as candidly refreshing.

Sometimes vehicle manufacturers are too clever by half.  Which tends to result in their not being particularly clever at all.  Their executives often say things that, well, don’t make a heck of a lot of sense or just seem disingenuous.

Take the names of the various and sundry production systems that they roll out with.  Sometimes it is a matter of taking the name of their company and then appending “Production System” or “Manufacturing System.”  Sure, it is theirs, but in point of fact it is really, fundamentally, the Toyota Production System (TPS).  Or they may come up with an elaborate acronym that really doesn’t bring anything to the party, and simply seems odd: ACME—Achieving Comprehensive Manufacturing Excellence.  Yeah.  Sure.

During his presentation at the CAR Management Briefing Seminar in Traverse City, Chrysler’s Frank Ewasyshyn, Executive Vice President – Manufacturing, talked about the system they’re now rolling out through the organization: Smart Manufacturing.  He admitted that it wasn’t an acronym.  He admitted that it was a variant on the old Chrysler Operating System (old as in going back to 1994; see: Going Places & Getting Things Done: Think Operating Systems ).  He admitted that it was a variant of TPS.

But the bomb was really dropped when he acknowledged, matter-of-factly, that “Smart Manufacturing” came from a comment of a Chrysler worker who listened to a description of what it was all about (e.g., flexible, empowered employees, elimination of waste, and so on) and simply said, “That sounds like smart manufacturing.”

And that’s what it takes.  Pure and simple.  Nothing more elaborate than that.  And Ewasyshyn was forthright and honest.

Tom LaSorda , Vice-Chairman and President, Chrysler, who, incidentally, made his bones in this industry by doing magnificent things in eastern Europe with GMS—the General Motor Manufacturing System (see: Tom LaSorda: Chrysler Group's Lean Thinker) —is a man who has certainly been on the hot seat of late—not unlike the execs at the other vehicle manufacturers who are selling in this market.  He also spoke at the event held in Traverse City.

During his presentation he noted that the previous week he’d been to the doctor and had had his blood pressure checked.  While one can readily imagine that he’d be red-lining it vis-à-vis blood pressure in a way analogous to the needle on tach on an SRT8 Challenger would zoom to the right, he noted with a bit of seemingly puckishness that his blood pressure was just fine.

Rather than crafting some elaborate explanation for how things are going on Auburn Hills, he said more with those few words than he would have with some detailed financial breakdown.  Forthright and honest.

Later, when LaSorda was asked by a reporter about the financial health of the company (with an unspoken but present assumption that the company was teetering on the brink of insolvency such that they’d be putting the “For Rent” sign up in front of HQ before the press briefing was over or that owner Cerberus was going to change the locks on the building before LaSorda got back because they’d sold it to any available bidder), LaSorda simply noted that in 2011 it will begin producing the Titan full-size pickup for Nissan.

“Don’t you think Nissan did their due diligence on us?” he asked, in response to the question.

Simple.  To the point.

That, too, is smart.