Detailed Summary of American Factory (Essay Example)

The film American Factory documents a real-world example of foreign investment, as Fuyao, a Chinese glass company decides to open a factory in the United States. Set in Dayton, Ohio, the film begins with a flashback to the closing of a General Motors plant which cost over 10,000 jobs. As a result, lives were changed as many former GM employees struggled to rebound financially. Jill, a forklift operator who lost her job at GM fell from middle class and was forced to move into her sister’s basement. Similarly, Shawnea, a glass inspector for Fuyao Glass America (FGA) experienced economic loss, citing her hourly wage of $29 with GM versus a much lower $12.84 with FGA. The first time Fuyao Chairman Cao Dewang visited Dayton, he was greeted with appreciation and gratitude for his investment in the local economy; so much so that the factory’s street was named “Fuyao Avenue”. Cao’s plan for FGA was to integrate Chinese workers with their American counterparts, to teach them the processes of glass production and no more. In other words, FGA was to be an American factory, with an American culture, as the two top FGA executives John Gauthier and Dave Burrows were given trust and control. 

Throughout the film, the issue of whether FGA would become a union shop lingered. The chairman made it very clear that the company was staunchly against the organization of a union, instructing top management to do everything in their power to prevent workers from unionizing. This matter was amplified at the FGA grand opening ceremony when U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown spoke of his support for a worker’s union at FGA. Dave was reminded of the company’s anti-union position and John was informed by the chairman that if a union formed under his watch, he would be fired. As operations progressed, one thing became clear to the Chinese: American workers were inefficient. Months of inefficiency piled up and resulted in missed goals, and pressure began to mount on John and Dave. Moreover, in the face of the lackluster production, FGA came under scrutiny of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for unsafe working conditions. 

With FGA struggling, Fuyao decided to fly a small group of American managers to the company’s headquarters in China. There, the Americans witnessed the daily operations of a Chinese plant and experienced Fuyao’s annual Chinese New Year festival. In China, employees work twelve hour shifts with few breaks in an intense work environment; they also only get one or two days off per month. This results in a far different outcome than that of the American factory, as workers are much more efficient, but they see their families less frequently and have less time for leisure. Additionally, it was revealed that the Chinese workers are part of a union that is run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that works with the company and prioritizes its objectives as opposed to worker concerns. After the experience, the Americans tried to implement some of the strategies/methods they learned in China. For instance, Curt, one of the supervisors who visited China tries to emulate the morning preparation (lineup-style) meetings he saw in the Chinese factory into his American team. 

After the China trip, FGA’s productivity continued to fail to meet expectations. This was accompanied by a rise in workplace injuries from unsafe working conditions which prompted considerable union support. Disappointed with the situation that John and Dave oversaw, the chairman fired them both and they were replaced with Chinese executives. This followed throughout the entire organization, as Americans with authority were ousted in favor of Chinese managers. These actions were contrary to his initial philosophy of letting the Americans run FGA, further intensifying calls for a union, because the workers felt that they were no longer empowered in the company. Despite anti-union interventions from the Labor Relations Institute (LRI), a union vote materialized. 

The day of the vote was tense for both sides, but in the end Fuyao could breathe a sigh of relief, as there were 868 “NO” votes to 444 “YES” votes. However, the union efforts were costly. Jill, the forklift operator who was mentioned earlier, was very supportive and involved with the unionizers; it is likely that this inadvertently resulted in her termination. In addition, Rob was fired, a furnace supervisor who had developed a close relationship with his Chinese coworker, Wong. Although many American workers suffered from the seemingly cut-throat approach of Chinese management, FGA benefited and started achieving its goals. 

At the end of film, the chairman reflects on his life, contemplates the environmental consequences of his numerous factories, and his overall impact on the world. But the most intriguing thing he said was “The point of living is to work”. This quote was particularly impactful because it excellently contrasted Chinese and American attitudes toward work and life; Americans typically work for money and individual motives, whereas the common good and success of one’s group is much more important in Chinese culture. This film exemplified it. Overall, American Factory followed a Chinese company’s international experiment of expanding operations to the United States and the cultural interaction that took place. Cross cultural bonds were formed, (Rob and Wong), conflicts arose (work conditions versus productivity), people were exposed to new work methods, and everyone learned from the experience. 

Culture in American Factory

Throughout the film, it is apparent that many of the problems that Fuyao experienced when they expanded to the United States were caused by the drastically different cultural values that were held by the Chinese and American workers. Hofstede’s Five Dimensions of Culture is an approach that is used often by managers to understand the differences between various national cultures. This model utilizes five different dimensions that include power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation that are used to describe a culture’s values. By using this model to analyze the differences between Chinese and American culture, it can be concluded that China and the United States maintain significantly different cultures. For instance, while China values collectivism and considering the interests of everyone, the United States maintains a more individualistic culture where people place more of a priority on their own interests and opinions. Regarding power distance, China has a high-power distance and believes that inequalities between people are acceptable within society, while American culture maintains a much lower power distance in which inequalities between people are not acknowledged as often. Hofstede’s model also showed that China maintains a long-term orientation in which they value the development of their education and technology as a way of preparing for the future, while the United States has a short-term orientation in which they prefer to analyze new information and strive for quick results. Masculinity and uncertainty avoidance are the two dimensions in Hofstede’s model that China and the United States had an almost identical score. Both China and the United States have a masculine culture in which they value competition and success. Additionally, both countries maintain a culture that has a moderately low uncertainty avoidance which means that they tend to feel unthreatened by ambiguity and unknown situations. In summation, Hofstede’s Five Dimensions of Culture can be used to analyze the cultural values of China and the United States; consequently, this can lead to the conclusion that Chinese and American workers struggled to work together in the film because they come from contrasting cultures. 

Additional Research

American Factory was based on post-industrial Ohio, where a Chinese billionaire reopened a General Motors plant. Filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar were allowed to follow and film inside the business. The success of the film was average at best, before it was purchased by Netflix and distributed by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, which helped them win an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2020 (VanDerWerff, 2020). Thus, Netflix was a major contributor to the documentary's success. A plethora of news articles were then published after the release of the documentary on Netflix. Many of these articles published were based on interviews with current and former employees after the reopening. It was said that “the arrival of Chairman Cao’s Fuyao Glass Inc. and the re-opening of the plant that would soon employ 2,000 people was greeted with open arms. Fuyao was seen as the ‘savior’ of Moraine and its citizens” (Goldsberry, 2020). However, after just a few weeks of production, complaints were being filed toward working conditions and the work itself. Workers claimed they worked more hours for less pay after Fuyao bought the company, causing tension in the workplace. In recent years, the complaints continue to grow with little to no changes. Even with the grievances, the business pulled in around $9.7 million of profit in 2019 (Gnau, 2021). Although like most firms in 2020, there was a substantial decrease in earnings, as their net profit fell below $500,000 (Gnau, 2021). As of now, Fuyao continues to operate in the U.S.