"Having sex while making unreliable cars"

Apologies if I've told you about this in the past but I am a huge fan of a radio programme called This American Life. It's a weekly show from Chicago Public Radio and quite frankly it has produced some of the finest radio programming I have ever heard. Earlier this week I listened to one of their shows from the 26th of March 2010, called "Nummi".

It's the story of how two major car manufacturers with very different cultures managed to run an automobile factory together. At one of the car plants workers were buying drugs, turning up drunk and having sex while they were making unreliable cars. The other carmaker needed to expand into a new market place.

Here's the radio programmes description

A car plant in Fremont California that might have saved the U.S. car industry. In 1984, General Motors and Toyota opened NUMMI as a joint venture. Toyota showed GM the secrets of its production system: how it made cars of much higher quality and much lower cost than GM achieved. Frank Langfitt explains why GM didn't learn the lessons – until it was too late.  

It is wonderful radio. You can listen to the programme here: This American Life
Added extra: Recently the TAL team launched an application for iPhones that costs under 2 quid, it is the best app on my phone. If you love great story telling and you've got an iPhone you must buy this app.  What do you get for your cash? well every programme the TAL team have produced for radio and TV and it's all searchable!