A study in poor management
“Did Bombardier not think to loan its aerospace quality experts to the streetcar division to help when the project went and remained in red status for so long?” G.A. CARUSO WOODBRIDGE
Re Not in Service: Bombardier, May 6 Based on my almost 40 years as a professional project manager and trainer/coach of project managers, your article documents some very disturbing events.
When there are quality problems, there are standard, wellknown and documented processes for conducting a root cause analysis. Does Bombardier not have such a process? Did Bombardier not think to loan its aerospace quality experts to the streetcar division to help when the project went and remained in red status for so long?
A project rescue could have been effected much sooner if basic project management had been practised. Instead, we now have an excellent case study on the perils of poor project quality management. G.A. Caruso, Woodbridge I learned four things from this series on Bombardier.
Management seems to be facing the consequences of offshoring for low-cost labour and paying the price for receiving very inferior goods.
This is a good case to argue against multi-common share capital structures that retain “family insider interests” at the expense of the real risk-taking investors.
Management bonuses are verging on the absurd. It is questionable whether the $32 million in bonuses are even due on a deferred basis.
The company has been propped up by federal and Quebec taxpayers and, with the stock at a terrible low, it has nowhere to go but up with that kind of support. Again, this awards executives for the failures of management.
The final lesson was a true study of irony. Welders at the Mexican plant were leaving for higher-paid jobs elsewhere, although they couldn’t weld. M.W. Bradburn, Pickering With all the delays and quality problems outlined in your series, it is amazing that penalties were not sought until 2015. Equally strange is that TTC and Bombardier are still in negotiations over the penalties. You really have to wonder what kind of contract the TTC signed on behalf of taxpayers. Penalties should have been a slam dunk. Lars Nordgren, Scarborough The City of Toronto must find a way to politely get Bombardier off its back.
It could place orders for additional streetcars and demand that Bombardier pay penalties for late delivery of those vehicles up front, with refunds for each unit delivered on time.
Or it could let a new tender today for any additional streetcars it will need and preclude Bombardier from bidding until it has fulfilled its current delivery obligations. Patrick Cowan, North York The root cause of Bombardier’s problems is that, like far too many North American corporations, it is not run by genuine executives, real planners and problem-solvers. It is run by over-promoted bean-counters who only know how to do one thing: cut costs, preferably by cutting staff.
Bombardier has acquired a bad reputation for its failure to deliver products on time and in good order. So how is it trying to solve this problem?
First, it is laying off 14,000 workers, which means it will have fewer workers trying to produce more units.
Second, it is swapping products around, which means it will have more staff working on unfamiliar products.
As one of the consequences of this second measure, the Mexican workers who were unable to turn out parts for streetcars will now be working on components for jetliners!
So Bombardier does not merely suffer from incompetent executives who do not seem to be taking all the steps necessary to solve their problems. They are actually led by people who are moving resolutely in the direction most likely to make them worse.
Just how long can Canadian taxpayers be expected to continue saving these clowns from their own incompetence? Stephen Langevin, Toronto The only viable option the TTC had in its continuing efforts to hold Bombardier responsible for its delayed deliveries, production problems and overall failure to honour the $1-billion contract was to sue the company and endure the consequences. Those consequences have seriously affected the operations of the TTC and its ability to maintain services to its millions of customers.
We have to wonder whether the Quebec government and the federal government encouraged the TTC to accept Bombardier’s low bid over several competing international firms. Another sad chapter in how political considerations have inconvenienced the daily commute for TTC users. Robert Ariano, Scarborough Send email to lettertoed@thestar.ca; via Web at thestar.ca/ letters. Include full name, address, phone numbers of sender; only name and city will be published. Letter writers should disclose any personal interest they have in the subject matter. We reserve the right to edit letters, which run 50-150 words.