The Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon – twin, small 4 door hatchbacks – and the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant – twin, mid-sized 2 and 4 door sedans and a wagon – were built to the “America” label – offering a fixed price with certain levels of equipment and limited options.

In both cases, the cars had been in production for many years (over a decade for the Omni and Horizon) with limited changes. Chrysler was able to work with their suppliers to cut costs and cut inventory of unused parts – maybe one of the first, major instances of JIT (just in time) manufacturing.

Through their programs, they were able to cut costs on manufacturing those cars, offering them at a lower price to the dealers, who, in turn, were able to offer them at lower prices to the customers…. I don’t remember if the sales of those models increased because of the “America” program, but it probably worked very well, as they kept the “America” program and models around for a few years.

But this was also well before the adoption of MMOG/LE…..

In any industry – whether an automaker or a dressmaker, retailer or wholesaler – suppliers and buyers need to work together – as PARTNERS – to improve their performances in ways that will affect and assist both PARTNERS – by allowing more information to flow and be used on both sides of the equation.