engifineer

Well, I am hitting my first two autocrosses of this season this weekend which should be fun

zeroptzero

I never liked the idea of "Just in Time" manufacturing processes. A boat has to leave China a couple months ahead of the production date, then trucks have to deliver it to storage warehousing, and then the parts need to get to the manufacturing plants here in North America just ahead of the planned production date. If one of those links in the chain get behind for any reason you don't get your parts to assemble. You get months and months of back-ups and there is real trouble, very hard to get caught up. It could all be Covid related, but I can't say for sure. Inflation is causing a lot of people to get out of certain industries too, and the threat of death from Covid has caused people to rethink working in general. Supply chain logistical issues started under Covid coupled with employment issues in the transportation and distribution industries is making for one big mess.

cosmomiller

In a perfect world with all cylinders firing, it works great. Just like the human body. Healthy and everything works! Throw a monkey wrench in and it affect the entire operation.

tof

Interesting that Toyota, a pioneer in Just In Time manufacturing warehoused a lot of chips and other electronics well before the "great chip shortage". That's why they have new cars down at the Toyota dealer while Honda, Ford, GM and others have mostly empty lots.

Scooterboy

My previous employer used just in time and lean manufacturing and had several times when they didn’t have the parts needed to produce. You might save money on inventory taxes but lose it on lost production.

zeroptzero

Well that is more like the old way of manufacturing where you have stock piles of parts available and you weren't dependent on them arriving hours before assembly or installation from a third party supplier.

zeroptzero

Yes, but no so good when your goods are on a slow boat from China and the ship can't get into port.

zeroptzero

This past winter we had a transport truck overturn on the major highway that runs through my region. There were engine assemblies scattered all over the road and ditch as the trailer completely fell apart. I figured one of the auto assembly plants in our region probably had to shut down for a couple days due to a lack of engines and they would have to wait for the next supply of engines to arrive from the US. As said, it works great when things go as expected, but when it goes bad it can be really bad.

The Raptor

Long Beach Grand Prix. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - all day all three days. I've been to all 46 of them since 1975, this will be 47. Anne Marie's missed 2. We have the best seats in the house: top row, aisle seats, Grandstand 29, just past the Acura Bridge, near the start-finish line, across from the pits, where the IndyCars and IMSA prototypes are hitting near 200 mph. Tailgating/parking in Marina Parking just behind our seats with Anne Marie's Acura MDX and a USC easy up, chairs, coolers, the whole 9 yards. GTD Pro Corvettes in IMSA race. Also historic IMSA Prototypes from late 80s early 90s and off road desert trucks that hit jumps and fly through the air. We get to visit with about 50 of our friends that we tailgate with and only see once a year for three days. They come from as far away as Houiston, Northern California, and Santa Barbara. We're also right across the road from the Corvette Corral -- many of my Corvette Forum buddies from across the country -- 150 Corvettes of all ages and colors .We start every morning at 8 with breakfast: King Taco all meat carne asada burritos with cilantro and onions and lots of spicy salsa verde. I've been really looking forward to this long weekend for months. We leave the house at 6, get there by 7, and set up the easy up, chairs, and cooler.

dlq04

Rap, that's a great tradition. 47 years. Wow.