This rant is to give advice to any and all of you that are forced to deal with the Collins & Aikman Corp, Old Fort Engineering Center on a day to day basis...............

The key problem with this facility is the Plant Manager, Jim Flood.
We all wonder how this souped up redneck could have ever been chosen to be in such a critical position as Research and Development.
This one individual's lack of leadership was the ultimate downfall of the GM365 tooling program.
A 400000 dollar toilet flush.... and he STILL got that big bonus at the end of the year !!!
A recent article by the Detroit Free Press details an insiders view of the "smoke and mirrors" tactic used to decieve Auto makers and line the pockets of the CEO and other members of the Board of Directors.....
Its well known that Jim Flood is the apprentice of the famous Millard King..... now head of Global operations for Collins & Aikman.
As is common in the Collins & Aikman hierarchy even modestly important jobs are filled from the ranks of friends and family whether they are qualified or not is irrelevant, as long as they are not an intellectual threat to Jim.
It is apparant to us in the UAW that Becker is NOT in control of the situations brewing at the individual C&A facilities.....
we have experienced severe delays of prototype tooling, sample parts etc.
We have also noted that there are several "straws that stir the drink" at the Old Fort Facility.
One individual, the group leader of Trim Engineering is a total asshole.
It is said that he can barely read and therefore arrives early everyday to comprehend his 20 or 30 email messages.
He also is lacking in suffiicient math skills to get an order right.... his wonderful proficiency is costing the company over 100K in EXTRA shipping charges on a yearly basis !!!
In the UAW such an individual would have been terminated after the first 6 months, however we have had to deal with this man for 3 years !!!
Here again we wonder at the motives of his superiors...... mabey a "love interest ?"...... we just dont know at this point !!!!

Dont give thses guys an INCH .... insist on DUE dates.... accept no delays...... maybe BECKER will get involved personally .

You post explains why my truck's 4 year old dashboard has 12 cracks in it.
The inferior plastic formulations used in their molding processes are obviously flawed, and NOT design-built, to say the least!
Not to say that C&A's management is soley to-blame for my disappointment. Add to their incompetance, that of Diemler/Benz for not repairing this problem under Manufacturer's warrauntee.
Conclusion: They both pretty-much suck.