- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: AuthorHouse (23 April 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1438952945
- ISBN-13: 978-1438952949
- Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 22.9 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,037,055 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A Savage Factory
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Excellent first hand account of 'management practices' in the US automotive manufacturing in the 1970s
26 Nov 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book has certainly lived up to expectations. It is a no nonsense first hand account of a foreman at the Ford Sharonsville transmission plant and describes the horrendous practices going on, not as a one sided tirade against one or the other party but from the perspective of a well educated and very perceptive observer.
The dance between the Ford factory floor management and the UAW is described in great detail, with the author lso making observations on the long term damage this caused. The management failed to grasp the long term distrust their managerial methods were creating, especially the molestation of the hourly worers when the need for production was low (economic crisis years), and then reverting back to turning a blind eye to what happened at the shop floor when sales were good and they needed to get high outputs from the plants.
The one aside on working and managerial practices going on in Procter and Gamble, another one of the author's previous employers is both highly amusing and rings very true, having observed several such companies from the inside myself. It is actually also surprisingly good at describing automotive management at the non-plant level (you might want to read On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors: John Z. De Lorean's Look Inside the Automotive Giant or The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry for further corroboration of that).
I can only recommend the book as an essential reading for anyone interested in the automotive industry generally, as well as in some of the issues plaguing it today.
The dance between the Ford factory floor management and the UAW is described in great detail, with the author lso making observations on the long term damage this caused. The management failed to grasp the long term distrust their managerial methods were creating, especially the molestation of the hourly worers when the need for production was low (economic crisis years), and then reverting back to turning a blind eye to what happened at the shop floor when sales were good and they needed to get high outputs from the plants.
The one aside on working and managerial practices going on in Procter and Gamble, another one of the author's previous employers is both highly amusing and rings very true, having observed several such companies from the inside myself. It is actually also surprisingly good at describing automotive management at the non-plant level (you might want to read On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors: John Z. De Lorean's Look Inside the Automotive Giant or The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry for further corroboration of that).
I can only recommend the book as an essential reading for anyone interested in the automotive industry generally, as well as in some of the issues plaguing it today.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Bought this as a present for my husband and he loved it. He had already read reviews so was looking forward to it. He said it was an excellent read (if you like American cars). My 21 year old son enjoyed it too.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
54 reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Buckle up for a raw, jaw-dropping story of Ford driving itself to the brink
4 April 2009
Format:Paperback
Robert Dewar captures the essence of an American auto plant in his compelling book "A Savage Factory." It's "Dilbert" meets "Lord of the Flies."
Dewar's true life, eyewitness account walks you through from his dis-orientation to his self-termination. The stories are both hilarious and harrowing, showing the greasy underside of Ford Motor Company that will forever stain your impression of the auto industry because of the managers and union workers whose battle for control puts Ford on a collision course for self-destruction.
Dewar's raw, front row seat writing offers no sugar coating because the hardened characters who threatened his life with a loaded gun, intimidate him with operational sabotage, break him psycholoigcally that sent him to recoup and re-group with a shrink, and confound him with petty managerial games are not conjourned from his imagination but are people who lived and breathed down his neck every day he walked the factory floor of Ford.
If you think you have a bad day at the office or a boss who is intolerable, think again. Reading this account of how the Detroit Mafia plays God with people's careers while jeopardizing their health and family life will certainly make you grateful that you don't have to don a Foreman's jacket that doubled as a bulls-eye for unimaginable abuse and one unbeievable story.
"A Savage Factory" will grip you with disbelief from start to finish and make you appreciate that you never had to live the experiences that Robert Dewar endured in order to take home a paycheck.
Dewar's true life, eyewitness account walks you through from his dis-orientation to his self-termination. The stories are both hilarious and harrowing, showing the greasy underside of Ford Motor Company that will forever stain your impression of the auto industry because of the managers and union workers whose battle for control puts Ford on a collision course for self-destruction.
Dewar's raw, front row seat writing offers no sugar coating because the hardened characters who threatened his life with a loaded gun, intimidate him with operational sabotage, break him psycholoigcally that sent him to recoup and re-group with a shrink, and confound him with petty managerial games are not conjourned from his imagination but are people who lived and breathed down his neck every day he walked the factory floor of Ford.
If you think you have a bad day at the office or a boss who is intolerable, think again. Reading this account of how the Detroit Mafia plays God with people's careers while jeopardizing their health and family life will certainly make you grateful that you don't have to don a Foreman's jacket that doubled as a bulls-eye for unimaginable abuse and one unbeievable story.
"A Savage Factory" will grip you with disbelief from start to finish and make you appreciate that you never had to live the experiences that Robert Dewar endured in order to take home a paycheck.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Robert Dewar, remembered
22 Jan 2010
Format:Hardcover
Bob Dewar passed away on Jan. 20, 2010.
Robert Joseph Dewar was born in McKeesport, PA on March 23, 1943 and spent much of his childhood working in coal mines alongside his father and brothers. Bob knew what it meant to pull himself up from his bootstraps and reach for the stars. Well-respected in the community, he embodied the entrepreneurial spirit.
Known for his wit, humor, and ideas always tinged with strong opinions, he was an animated storyteller who bristled with life when he wove tales. His lifelong dream was to write a book about his experiences.
A Navy veteran and graduate of Penn State University and University of Southern California, he was an avid gardener and lover of nature and wilderness. Bob had wanderlust and enjoyed camping and travel.
In 1986, he realized his dream of becoming a business owner and opened The Box Place on Colerain Ave.
Never one to sit on his laurels, Bob achieved another lifelong dream and became a published author in 2009. "A Savage Factory," which has received wide acclaim, details his true life experiences working as a foreman at Ford's Sharonville transmission plant. Recently, Bob toured the old plant with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal and saw first-hand the dramartic overhaul by Ford. The tour was arranged by the CEO of Ford Motor Company after receiving a copy of Bob's book.
He is survived by his wife, Barbara; three children, Richard, Sharon and David. Grandchild, Ethan; and brothers, Jim, Herb, and Harry. He is preceded by brothers Charles, Bill, Alfred and sister Mary Ann. Memorials may be made to McKeesport Heritage Center (1832 Arboretum Drive, McKeesport, PA 15132), or buy Bob's book on Amazon.com.
(Obituary from The Cincinnati Enquirer 22 January 2010)
Robert Joseph Dewar was born in McKeesport, PA on March 23, 1943 and spent much of his childhood working in coal mines alongside his father and brothers. Bob knew what it meant to pull himself up from his bootstraps and reach for the stars. Well-respected in the community, he embodied the entrepreneurial spirit.
Known for his wit, humor, and ideas always tinged with strong opinions, he was an animated storyteller who bristled with life when he wove tales. His lifelong dream was to write a book about his experiences.
A Navy veteran and graduate of Penn State University and University of Southern California, he was an avid gardener and lover of nature and wilderness. Bob had wanderlust and enjoyed camping and travel.
In 1986, he realized his dream of becoming a business owner and opened The Box Place on Colerain Ave.
Never one to sit on his laurels, Bob achieved another lifelong dream and became a published author in 2009. "A Savage Factory," which has received wide acclaim, details his true life experiences working as a foreman at Ford's Sharonville transmission plant. Recently, Bob toured the old plant with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal and saw first-hand the dramartic overhaul by Ford. The tour was arranged by the CEO of Ford Motor Company after receiving a copy of Bob's book.
He is survived by his wife, Barbara; three children, Richard, Sharon and David. Grandchild, Ethan; and brothers, Jim, Herb, and Harry. He is preceded by brothers Charles, Bill, Alfred and sister Mary Ann. Memorials may be made to McKeesport Heritage Center (1832 Arboretum Drive, McKeesport, PA 15132), or buy Bob's book on Amazon.com.
(Obituary from The Cincinnati Enquirer 22 January 2010)
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Another Jungle
15 July 2009
Format:Hardcover
Do not open "A Savage Factory" unless you have a day or so to kill because you won't be able to put it down. My dad told me about this book and gave me his copy to read when I was home on vacation. "A Savage Factory" is an eye-witness expose of the corruption that went on during the manufacturing of Ford transmissions during the late 1970s (e.g., when quality was at its very lowest). The book reminded me (and I'm sure it will remind others) of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" that was published in 1906 and that exposed the shocking horrors and corruption of the meatpacking industry. The author, Dewar, gives a detailed and very scientific/analytical account of the entire process of manufacturing transmissions as well as of the psychology of the auto-worker and mid- and upper-level management. The chapter about the mental health hospital that dealt especially with burn-outs (or near burn-outs) from Ford was hilarious (but also enlightening for anyone working in a fast-pace, stressful environment). The sad thing about "A Savage Factory" is that everything that Dewar describes in the book--as shocking as it all seems at first--is probably not beneath the bozos that have been running the auto industry into the dirt for 30 years. WARNING: Do not buy this book if you have ever worked in management at Ford (and probably GM too)!
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