Editing NUMMI (section)

===Background===

Before NUMMI, the site was the former [[Fremont Assembly]] that [[General Motors]] operated between 1962 and 1982.<ref name="mullfre">{{cite news|date=March 9, 1982|title=GM, Toyota mull joint U.S. venture|page=5A |work=Eugene Register-Guard|agency=wire services|location=(Oregon)|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GcVYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XukDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5580%2C1836777}}</ref><ref name="plftj">{{cite news|date=February 28, 1983|title=Union auto workers pledge fight to get jobs at GM-Toyota plant|page=6B |work=Eugene Register-Guard|agency=Associated Press|location=(Oregon)|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dPVVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WeIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6679%2C6495249}}</ref><ref name="timeline">{{Cite web |title=NUMMI Milestones |url=http://www.nummi.com/timeline.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402121111/http://www.nummi.com/timeline.php |archive-date=April 2, 2010 |access-date=November 30, 2013 |publisher=NUMMI}}</ref> Employees at the Fremont plant<ref>{{cite web|title=GM Nummi Plant|url=http://www.autointell.com/nao_companies/general_motors/gm-manufacturing/gm-nummi/gmnummi.htm |url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030009/http://www.autointell.com/nao_companies/general_motors/gm-manufacturing/gm-nummi/gmnummi.htm |archive-date=March 4, 2016|access-date=November 9, 2016|df=mdy}}</ref> were "considered the worst workforce in the automobile industry in the United States," according to a later recounting by a leader of the workers' own union, the [[United Auto Workers]] (UAW).<ref name="atc2010">{{cite web|last=Langfitt |first= Frank |date=March 26, 2010|title=The End Of The Line For GM-Toyota Joint Venture|url=http://ww.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=125229157 |url-status=live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160423033037/http://ww.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=125229157 |archive-date=April 23, 2016|access-date=April 7, 2010|work=[[All Things Considered]]|publisher=[[National Public Radio]]|df=mdy}}</ref><ref name="Langfitt 2015">{{Cite news |last=Langfitt |first=Frank |date=July 17, 2015 |title=NUMMI (2015), Transcript |work=[[This American Life]] |url=https://www.thisamericanlife.org/561/transcript |url-status=live |access-date=November 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160619060428/http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/561/transcript |archive-date=June 19, 2016}}</ref>

GM as a company was [[Departmentalization|departmentalized]] (design, manufacturing) as per [[Henry Ford]]'s [[Division of labour|division of labor]], but without the necessary communication and collaboration between the departments. There was an adversarial relationship between workers and plant supervisors, with management not considering the employees' view on production, and quantity was preferred over quality.<ref name="Langfitt 2015" /><ref>{{cite web|last=Urbance|first=Randy |title=ESD.83 Book Review of The Machine that Changed the World|url=http://web.mit.edu/esd.83/www/notebook/machine.pdf |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Roos|first1=Daniel |title=The Machine That Changed the World : The Story of Lean Production|last2=Womack|first2=James P.|last3=Jones|first3=Daniel T|date=November 1991|publisher=Harper Perennial|isbn=978-0060974176}}</ref> Like all American car plants, the production lines at Fremont seldom stopped, and when mistakes were made, cars continued down the line with the expectation that they would be fixed later.<ref name="Langfitt 2015" /> By the early 1980s, the adversarial relationship had deteriorated to the point where employees drank alcohol, smoked marijuana (at the time, an illegal activity), were frequently absent (enough so that the production line could not be started), and even committed petty acts of sabotage such as putting "Coke bottles inside the door panels, so they'd rattle and annoy the customer."<ref name="atc2010" /><ref name="Langfitt 2015" />

Attempts to discipline workers were often met with grievances or even strikes, putting the plant into near-continuous chaos. By 1982, GM had had enough and closed Fremont Assembly and laid off its thousands of workers.<ref name="Langfitt 2015" />