In the Rings of Saturn - Hardcover

Sherman, Joe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195072448 ISBN 13: 9780195072440

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1993

Synopsis

In this compelling, readable narrative, Joe Sherman explores virtually every aspect of the Saturn project, America's biggest and most publicized industrial success of the last decade. Here is the whole story--Saturn's mysterious beginnings inside General Motors in 1982; the site hunt that involved 38 states and ended in Spring Hill, Tennessee; the plant's construction and the transfer of 5,000 UAW members to a historic Southern backwater; and finally the small car's triumph in the marketplace (Consumer Reports and J.D. Powers both dubbed Saturn a made-in-America breakthrough)--all woven together into a candid, panoramic tapestry.
In the Rings of Saturn has a striking immediacy: the reader sees almost first-hand GM's 1991 Annual Meeting at the Grand Ole Opry led by chairman Robert Stempel, as gadfly stockholders turn the event into a parody. We spend a week on the crankshaft machining line under the care of paternal, bearlike teamleader Bob Courtemanche, experiencing Saturn's revolutionary but troubled team structure. We even drive around with Spring Hill's flamboyant, tobacco-spitting mayor George Jones, who tells Sherman that the difference between a "Yankee" and a "damned Yankee" is "a Yankee comes here and goes home; a damned Yankee stays." Dozens of characters, from local farmers, to inspired assembly line workers, to "car smarts and gut feel" engineers, move across these pages. Through these flesh-and-blood portraits, Sherman brings to life a very American story of renewal and growth, of great hope and soured expectations, of greed and lost opportunities. And he reveals as well the downside of the project--that while the car itself is a triumph, the project has failed to provide either the learning laboratory General Motors needed or a model for positive redevelopment rural America yearns for.
In the Rings of Saturn is both the anatomy of a corporate triumph and an incisive commentary on industrial renewal in the United States. And it exposes the high hopes and earthshattering disappointments that occur when big business appears in rural areas. It is a volume that will enlighten business readers, inform the automotive industry, and entertain Saturn car buyers, many of whom will think: "My little car means all this?"

About this title

About the Author

Joe Sherman is a writer living in Vermont. He is the author of The House at Shelborne Farms and Fast Lane on a Dirt Road, and contributes regularly to Smithsonian magazine.

Reviews

A wide-ranging and ultimately diffuse reconstruction of how General Motors managed to launch a breakthrough line of popularly priced small passenger cars under the Saturn aegis at a time when the parent organization was experiencing convulsive financial, governance, and sales difficulties. Drawing on personal research that began within a year of GM's 1985 announcement that the Saturn plant would be located in rural Tennessee's Maury Country, Sherman (Fast Lane on a Dirt Road, 1991, etc.--not reviewed) offers a low-key, anecdotal account of the Motown giant's problems in creating a vehicle designed to vie with Japanese imports, and in producing it in a way that went against the grain of a hidebound corporate culture. He also addresses the ripple effects of the project on an agricultural backwater rich in Civil War history and antebellum architectural treasures. With the exception of those who sold their property early on, Sherman recounts, few residents of the communities surrounding the Saturn complex gained any substantive economic benefits, mainly because all Saturn jobs were reserved for UAW members moved in from other installations GM had closed down. Covered as well here are the snags encountered in convincing cynical trade unionists and their status-conscious superiors that the company meant what it said about teamwork on the assembly line. By late 1990, the Saturn had overcome all obstacles and made its way from the drawing board to showroom. Today, with demand still outstripping supply, the car is a marketplace success, albeit one that has yet to turn a profit for its sponsor--whose position as a competitive world-class enterprise remains in some doubt. While tellingly detailed in many respects, Sherman's narrative wanders all over the lot, fragmenting its focus--and impact. (Six photographs, line drawings--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The Saturn Corp. was formed by General Motors in 1985 to build a quality American small car that could compete with the Japanese imports. Sherman ( The House at Shelborne Farms ) offers a step-by-step account of the progress of Saturn Corporation from its inception through the company's first two years of production. The most compelling sections deal with the widely publicized impact the building of the Saturn factory had on rural Maury County, Tenn., and on the town of Spring Hill in particular. Sherman covers fully how the people working at Saturn feel about what was supposed to be a company that would revolutionize American car manufacturing. This readable study is not for car nuts--although there is plenty of information about how the Saturn production process works--but rather for readers interested in the history of what so far seems a qualified modern-day industrial success story. While Saturn achieved many of its goals, its future within GM is uncertain and the company suffered a setback when approximately 380,000 cars were recalled this summer (the recall is not covered in the book).
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Sherman has written a readable story of the General Motors Saturn Project, from its successful implementation in 1985 almost to the present recalls. He has been able to observe the development of the project through the eyes of several levels of management, residents of Spring Hill, Tennessee (the site of the Saturn plant), and workers on the Saturn assembly line. Sherman, a Vermont author, effectively ties together his narratives by including a timeline of relevant events in the automotive industry dating back to 1950. The building of a new car that could compete with the Japanese cars was a major undertaking, especially when GM was already in financial trouble. Then came downsizing and concern by management and the union that their autonomy would be compromised by the team approach. This is a solid, timely book that should be available in most libraries, and one that executives wishing to explore new management concepts should consider.
- Littleton M. Maxwell, Business Information Ctr., Univ. of Richmond, Va.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

By any number of measures, General Motors' Saturn automobile is a success. It has proven popular with consumers and compares favorably with equivalent Japanese models. Its plant, built from scratch in rural Tennessee, is a model for labor-management cooperation and is technologically innovative. Its marketing strategy, emphasizing customer service and soft-sell showroom tactics, is unique. What the new car has not been, unfortunately for GM, is profitable, although 1993 could be the first year the Saturn division ends up in the black. How this all came to be makes for an interesting, instructive story, and Sherman skillfully weaves together several disparate themes. A Vermont-based writer and regular contributor to the Smithsonian, Sherman has previously looked at the impact of development on rural communities in his own state in Fast Lane on a Dirt Road (1991). David Rouse

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195072448
• ISBN 13: 9780195072440
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 337