A key problem of General Motors – going metric too late and not full speed

A subtle but important cause of the high manufacturing cost of U.S. car manufacturers is the late and limited use of of the metric system, the standard measuring system for automotive parts in the rest of the world. Thus U.S.  car manufacturers use of global, low cost, standardized parts was limited. In contrast Japan adopted the metric system and DIN  standards mainly defined by the German machinery industry before serving the world market. Other parts of the U.S. industry made the transition to the metric system much earlier (e.g. IBM in the 80’s ) and were able to reduce their manufacturing cost of mechanical parts by typically 50%.  Even when a U.S. manufacturer officially introduced the metric system, engineers were still designing in “inches”. This attitude still complicates cooperation of U.S. car manufacturers like G.M. with European and Japanese manufcaturers. Whereas Ford has adapted the metric system much earlier.

The power of standardization is seen in the software industry where U.S. companies set the standards and dominate the markets.