Stempel

Edward Gunther feels that he has lost more than a boss.In accepting the resignation of Robert C. Stempel as chairman and chief executive of General Motors Corp., the board of directors pulled the rug out from under perhaps the best person to turn the corporation around and steer it down the road to profitability, Mr. Gunther feels."Mr. Stempel was a different breed of man," said the 44-year-old worker at GM's minivan assembly plant on Broening Highway. "He wasn't a bean counter. He wasn't from the finance side of the company."

Sept. 6 Schooley & Stempel Inc., 224 E. Main St. Westminster, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Principal: James C. Stempel, president. Assets: under $50,000; liabilities: $40,368.66 Rosse & Associates, 9475 Deereco Road, Timonium, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Principal: Claire B. Rosse, vice president. Assets: over $100,000; liabilities: over $500,000 Abbreviations a.k.a.: also known as; c/o: care of; d/b/a: doing business as; t/a: trading as; n/a: not available; n/l: not listed; H/C: Holding Company; LLC: Limited Liability Company; L/P: Limited Partnership; J/V: Joint Venture; P/A: Professional Association; P/C: Professional Corporation

He entered the chairman's office at General Motors at the start of a difficult decade, and by the second year of his tenure he had forged his die to recast the world's largest industrial company.The mold included plant closings and slashes in white-collar staffing, billions of dollars for modernization and vows to compete on a world scale. The blueprint was a bold corporate reorganization, an effort to dismantle empires and fiefdoms dating back to the days of Alfred P. Sloan, father of the modern GM.That was Roger Smith's vision of the early 1980s.

In 1819, when Thomas Blanchard began making interchangeable gunstocks at the Springfield Arsenal in Massachusetts, the American industrial revolution was born. On Oct. 26, 1992, in Detroit, when General Motors' board forced out Chairman Bob Stempel, it died.In between, U.S. enterprise soared to unprecedented heights; then, in recent years, Japan, Germany and others caught up with us. Now, as the world economy changes dramatically, all bets are off; tomorrow's winners, individuals and companies and nations, are anybody's guess.

NEW YORK -- General Motors Corp. Chairman Robert C. Stempel, the hands-on engineer whose 1990 appointment was hailed as a shift toward long-term planning and quality, resigned yesterday after bowing to pressure from disgruntled board members.The move came just days after board members, said to be impatient with his methodical style as the company lost billions of dollars, took the unusual step of refusing to back Mr. Stempel after rumors surfaced that they were considering his ouster.But rather than help the ungainly auto giant return to profitability, industry analysts said, Mr. Stempel's resignation could create more problems and have little effect.

DETROIT -- As the smoke clears from President Bush's recent trade scuffle with the Japanese, it appears now that the battle is just beginning."We started a meaningful process in Japan, and we plan to follow up on it," General Motors Chairman Robert Stempel said yesterday before giving the keynote speech at the Automotive News World Congress, which began last night in Detroit."

NEW YORK -- Sources close to General Motors Corp. said yesterday that the board of directors' putsch against Robert C. Stempel's management, led by John G. Smale, retired chairman of Procter & Gamble, was strongly supported by directors Dennis Weatherstone, chairman of the New York bank J. P. Morgan & Co., and Thomas H. Wyman, former chairman of CBS Inc.J. Willard Marriott Jr., chairman of the Marriott Corp., played an active role last spring when the board first asserted control, sources said.

No matter who takes over at General Motors as Robert C.Stempel's replacement, or how good he is, the new chairman will locked into a corporate strategy even before he takes command -- a strategy dictated by the nation's weak economy.Simply stated, GM waited too long for ballooning sales to save the day. Sales are running at an annual rate of barely 13 million a year, far from the 15 million American car and truck sales that in the late 1980s had created enough demand to mask GM's numerous inefficiencies.

THIS WASN'T just some small-time confidence operation, a couple of sleazy characters taking an old lady's savings. The 1950s quiz-show scandal was a con game that duped a nation."

Sept. 6 Schooley & Stempel Inc., 224 E. Main St. Westminster, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Principal: James C. Stempel, president. Assets: under $50,000; liabilities: $40,368.66 Rosse & Associates, 9475 Deereco Road, Timonium, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Principal: Claire B. Rosse, vice president. Assets: over $100,000; liabilities: over $500,000 Abbreviations a.k.a.: also known as; c/o: care of; d/b/a: doing business as; t/a: trading as; n/a: not available; n/l: not listed; H/C: Holding Company; LLC: Limited Liability Company; L/P: Limited Partnership; J/V: Joint Venture; P/A: Professional Association; P/C: Professional Corporation

The earthquake in the Detroit boardroom of General Motors is causing tremors at the GM plant on Broening Highway. With the ouster of chairman Robert C. Stempel, a boss popular with the rank-and-file, tough-minded outside directors are now in charge, their eyes firmly fixed on the bottom line.Not that the Baltimore operation seems to be in immediate danger; its mid-sized vans remain one of the more popular vehicles on the market. Last December, Broening escaped the first hit-list as Mr. Stempel launched a national campaign to close 21 plants and eliminate 74,000 jobs.

If General Motors was run like Blue Cross of Maryland, CEO Stempel would have just got a raise.Rejecting their constitution is the first thing a majority of Canadians have agreed about in years.If Ross doesn't win the election, you will know it was dirty tricks; without dirty tricks he would surely win, right?Get ready for a whole new wave of updated, contemporary, pure '90s cliches to pepper our punditry. There's a new edition of Bartlett's out.

Text of statements released Monday by General Motors Corp. from resigning Chairman Robert C. Stempel and John G. Smale, who heads the GM board's executive committee:Robert C. Stempel"Today I informed the General Motors board of directors that I was resigning as chairman and chief executive officer, effective immediately, and that I would serve at the pleasure of the board until a successor could be named."I made this decision in the best interest of the corporation and its fine, dedicated employees at all levels of the organization.

Edward Gunther feels that he has lost more than a boss.In accepting the resignation of Robert C. Stempel as chairman and chief executive of General Motors Corp., the board of directors pulled the rug out from under perhaps the best person to turn the corporation around and steer it down the road to profitability, Mr. Gunther feels."Mr. Stempel was a different breed of man," said the 44-year-old worker at GM's minivan assembly plant on Broening Highway. "He wasn't a bean counter. He wasn't from the finance side of the company."

NEW YORK -- General Motors Corp. Chairman Robert C. Stempel, the hands-on engineer whose 1990 appointment was hailed as a shift toward long-term planning and quality, resigned yesterday after bowing to pressure from disgruntled board members.The move came just days after board members, said to be impatient with his methodical style as the company lost billions of dollars, took the unusual step of refusing to back Mr. Stempel after rumors surfaced that they were considering his ouster.But rather than help the ungainly auto giant return to profitability, industry analysts said, Mr. Stempel's resignation could create more problems and have little effect.

No matter who takes over at General Motors as Robert C.Stempel's replacement, or how good he is, the new chairman will locked into a corporate strategy even before he takes command -- a strategy dictated by the nation's weak economy.Simply stated, GM waited too long for ballooning sales to save the day. Sales are running at an annual rate of barely 13 million a year, far from the 15 million American car and truck sales that in the late 1980s had created enough demand to mask GM's numerous inefficiencies.

DETROIT -- In a nationwide teleconference today, General Motors Corp. Chairman Robert Stempel is expected to open the next traumatic chapter in GM history -- including cost cutting to deal with a $3.5 billion loss for 1991 and plant closings that will spare Michigan's Willow Run assembly plant but could sacrifice a Texas factory.Mr. Stempel also may announce other plant closings and comment on efforts to trim thousands of white-collar jobs, said GM and United Auto Workers officials who asked not to be named.

The feature film "JFK" and the continuing deluge of TV docudramas "inspired by real events" have convinced some that history should not be learned from television or film. Nothing lies quite as convincingly as the visual image.Then there's "The Quiz Show Scandal," at 9 tonight on MPT (Channels 22 and 67).The one-hour documentary on how TV quiz shows in the 1950s were rigged is TV telling a piece of its own history and telling it better than it has ever been told in newspaper, magazine or book.

NEW YORK -- Sources close to General Motors Corp. said yesterday that the board of directors' putsch against Robert C. Stempel's management, led by John G. Smale, retired chairman of Procter & Gamble, was strongly supported by directors Dennis Weatherstone, chairman of the New York bank J. P. Morgan & Co., and Thomas H. Wyman, former chairman of CBS Inc.J. Willard Marriott Jr., chairman of the Marriott Corp., played an active role last spring when the board first asserted control, sources said.

DETROIT -- Scrambling to satisfy an impatient board of directors, General Motors Corp. said yesterday that it was eliminating two of the six bureaucracies responsible for designing and building its vehicles.In a statement put out under the names of its reputedly lame-duck chairman, Robert C. Stempel, and president, John F. Smith Jr., GM said the consolidation would help it reach its goal of slashing 20,000 white-collar jobs by the end of 1993.Although it comes after a week of indications that Mr. Stempel's job is in jeopardy, yesterday's action is part of a retrenchment begun in December that is intended to eliminate 74,000 jobs and close 21 factories.