If I were to believe the news, it would seem that Bob Nardelli had not redeemed himself yet. When he left Home Depot, he received many criticisms particularly after people found out about his enormous $210 million severance package.
From Home Depot, he moved to Chrysler and was received with trepidation. People didn’t think he could pull out Chrysler from the dumps the company was in.
Today, Nardelli is in the limelight again as he finds himself at the center of a debate on Capitol Hill.
The debate was to assess the merits of a Federal rescue package for the automakers. Nardelli seeks $7 billion in government funding for privately-owned Chrysler because the current financial meltdown has left “The Big Three†in desperate need of a capital infusion to keep them out of bankruptcy. The trouble is that there are substantial concerns that this is a case of “throwing good money after bad†and it will be tough to convince Republican lawmakers otherwise. Especially considering that Chrysler anticipates burning through $5 to $7 billion in fiscal 2009 but as of the end of the third quarter the company only had $6.1 billion in cash. The domestic automakers need significant structural changes in order to make them sustainable and many think the best way to restructure the industry would be through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
It’s a tough time for everyone. There’s no doubt about it. And Nardelli obviously weren’t able to pull out Chrysler from the dumps.
My question is, and I hope you can help me find the answer, can’t Nardelli’s Six Sigma expertise on Six Sigma help him now? Or Is Chrysler’s problems too complex for Six Sigma?
