Why did GM's people's salaries depend on not understanding NUMMI/TPS? I would have thought it would have been clear to them they either adapt or die, and thus their salary depended on understanding it.
Simply accepting you're in the wrong location means moving, and you can't move a factory and all it's workers cheaply. Similarly, no one wants to automate their own job away, as that would result in them not having a job.
Granted, long-term that thinking kills companies, but short term it keeps the bills paid, the kids fed, and the beer cold.
From what I was able to gather it was less about being in the wrong location and that the internal politics of GM set NUMMI up for failure.
America was able to be a powerhouse of manufacturing during WW2, I remember reading that a lot of the DNA for JIT/Kaizen/Lean came from the Marshall Plan[1].
The Chicken Tax. Because of it, US auto manufactures promoted and sold the one market segment where they had 0 to no competition. Even today, the big American automakers suck balls at making Sedans and focus exclusively on Trucks and SUVs.
Granted, long-term that thinking kills companies, but short term it keeps the bills paid, the kids fed, and the beer cold.