Ford invites students to design a 21st Century Model T

By Jenny King / Special to The Detroit News

Jenny King / Special to The Detroit News

Ford executives chose Dong Tran's battery-powered Model T concept for best representing the spirit and purpose of Henry Ford's original Model T, which bowed 100 years ago. Tran hails from Cicero, New York, and is a junior at College for Creative Studies.

It bowed in 1908, but no one likely knows how long it took Henry Ford to develop his Model T -- one of the most important automobiles ever produced.

But 11 transportation design students at College for Creative Studies had just four months in which to grapple with their spring semester projects: vehicle concepts that could become affordable transportation and have a social impact of the magnitude of that Model T.

As part of the 100th anniversary of the Model T, Ford Motor Company challenged these young people to come up with a Model T for the 21st century.

Students, members of the CCS faculty and Ford design people gathered in the Walter Buhl Ford building on campus April 30. Each student was required to give a two-minute presentation, outlining the ideas behind the finished model and forecasting how it might be produced.

Jesse Boyer of Port Sanilac was smitten as a kid with his uncle's T-bucket: its sounds, smells and excitement. Boyer's concept had the imprint of that T-bucket on it.

Filip Bosevski created a Model T that could double as a campsite.

"My Model T features a detachable interchangeable tent frame that integrates into the body and could be used for multiple purposes - camping with friends, a roof rack or just simply as a customizable aesthetic element," he explained.

Henry Ford loved to camp. So why not a Model T with the ability to double as a tent? Filip Bosevski, of Bitola, Macedonia, created this urban/camping vehicle, complete with boutique accessories.

A native of Bitola, Macedonia, Bosevski made a fashion statement not only with the vehicle but also in "matching" accessories like boots and a backpack.

Harper Woods resident David Owsen designed his green, spider-line Model T for India. He showed how the four long "legs" with tires at their ends could take the vehicle over uncertain terrain. The wheels could be drawn closer to the cabin to save space for urban driving, he said.

Following the presentations, Peter Horbury, Ford executive director, Design, The Americas, huddled briefly with colleagues, then announced that Doug Tran, of Cicero, N.Y., had best fulfilled the assignments.

Tran's battery-powered Model T will spend its summer at Ford World Headquarters. The remaining 10 projects are slated to be on display at the museum at The Henry Ford.

"We created this program because we wanted students to stretch their imagination on not only delivering a futuristic concept that had visual aesthetics, but a concept that interpreted the genius of the 100-year-old vehicle that started the automotive revolution," Horbury said.

David Owsen of Harper Woods designed his green Ford Model T 2.0 with retractable "legs" that would allow its driver to use it on unpaved surfaces, then draw in the extensions for more compact urban transportation

Jenny King is a Detroit-area free-lance writer. She can be contacted via e-mail at Wright-King@comcast.net

Gas prices too high!

Vets a quarter of the homeless

Study finds that veterans constitute a quarter of America's homeless

The Associated Press

updated 8:37 p.m. ET, Wed., Nov. 7, 2007

WASHINGTON - Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.

The Veterans Affairs Department has identified 1,500 homeless veterans from the current wars and says 400 of them have participated in its programs specifically targeting homelessness.

The Alliance to End Homelessness, a public education nonprofit, based the findings of its report on numbers from Veterans Affairs and the Census Bureau. 2005 data estimated that 194,254 homeless people out of 744,313 on any given night were veterans.

In comparison, the VA says that 20 years ago, the estimated number of veterans who were homeless on any given night was 250,000.

Some advocates say such an early presence of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan at shelters does not bode well for the future. It took roughly a decade for the lives of Vietnam veterans to unravel to the point that they started showing up among the homeless. Advocates worry that intense and repeated deployments leave newer veterans particularly vulnerable.

"We're going to be having a tsunami of them eventually because the mental health toll from this war is enormous," said Daniel Tooth, director of veterans affairs for Lancaster County, Pa.

Advocates fight for more resources
While services to homeless veterans have improved in the past 20 years, advocates say more financial resources still are needed.

With the spotlight on the plight of Iraq veterans, they hope more will be done to prevent homelessness and provide affordable housing to the younger veterans while there's a window of opportunity.

"When the Vietnam War ended, that was part of the problem. The war was over, it was off TV, nobody wanted to hear about it," said John Keaveney, a Vietnam veteran and a founder of New Directions in Los Angeles, which provides substance abuse help, job training and shelter to veterans.

"I think they'll be forgotten," Keaveney said of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. "People get tired of it. It's not glitzy that these are young, honorable, patriotic Americans. They'll just be veterans, and that happens after every war."

Keaveney said it's difficult for his group to persuade some homeless Iraq veterans to stay for treatment and help because they don't relate to the older veterans. Those who stayed have had success — one is now a stockbroker and another is applying to be a police officer, he said.

"They see guys that are their father's age and they don't understand, they don't know, that in a couple of years they'll be looking like them," he said.

One vet's story
After being discharged from the military, Jason Kelley, 23, of Tomahawk, Wis., who served in Iraq with the Wisconsin National Guard, took a bus to Los Angeles looking for better job prospects and a new life.

Kelley said he couldn't find a job because he didn't have an apartment, and he couldn't get an apartment because he didn't have a job. He stayed in a $300-a-week motel until his money ran out, then moved into a shelter run by the group U.S. VETS in Inglewood, Calif. He's since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he said.

"The only training I have is infantry training, and there's not really a need for that in the civilian world," Kelley said in a phone interview. He has enrolled in college and hopes to move out of the shelter soon.

Historical precedent
The Iraq vets seeking help with homelessness are more likely to be women, less likely to have substance abuse problems, but more likely to have mental illness — mostly related to post-traumatic stress, said Pete Dougherty, director of homeless veterans programs at the VA.

Overall, 45 percent of participants in the VA's homeless programs have a diagnosable mental illness and more than three out of four have a substance abuse problem, while 35 percent have both, Dougherty said.

Historically, a number of fighters in U.S. wars have become homeless. In the post-Civil War era, homeless veterans sang old Army songs to dramatize their need for work and became known as "tramps," which had meant to march into war, said Todd DePastino, a historian at Penn State University's Beaver campus who wrote a book on the history of homelessness.

After World War I, thousands of veterans — many of them homeless — camped in the nation's capital seeking bonus money. Their camps were destroyed by the government, creating a public relations disaster for President Herbert Hoover.

The end of the Vietnam War coincided with a time of economic restructuring, and many of the same people who fought in Vietnam were also those most affected by the loss of manufacturing jobs, DePastino said.

Their entrance to the streets was traumatic and, as they aged, their problems became more chronic, recalled Sister Mary Scullion, who has worked with the homeless for 30 years and co-founded of the group Project H.O.M.E. in Philadelphia.

"It takes more to address the needs because they are multiple needs that have been unattended," Scullion said. "Life on the street is brutal and I know many, many homeless veterans who have died from Vietnam."

VA partners with homeless programs
The VA started targeting homelessness in 1987, 12 years after the fall of Saigon. Today, the VA has, either on its own or through partnerships, more than 15,000 residential rehabilitative, transitional and permanent beds for homeless veterans nationwide. It spends about $265 million annually on homeless-specific programs and about $1.5 billion for all health care costs for homeless veterans.

Because of these types of programs and because two years of free medical care is being offered to all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, Dougherty said they hope many veterans from recent wars who are in need can be identified early.

"Clearly, I don't think that's going to totally solve the problem, but I also don't think we're simply going to wait for 10 years until they show up," Dougherty said. "We're out there now trying to get everybody we can to get those kinds of services today, so we avoid this kind of problem in the future."

Group: 500,000 vets homeless in past year
In all of 2006, the Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that 495,400 veterans were homeless at some point during the year.

The group recommends that 5,000 housing units be created per year for the next five years dedicated to the chronically homeless that would provide permanent housing linked to veterans' support systems. It also recommends funding an additional 20,000 housing vouchers exclusively for homeless veterans, and creating a program that helps bridge the gap between income and rent.

Following those recommendations would cost billions of dollars, but there is some movement in Congress to increase the amount of money dedicated to homeless veterans programs.

On a recent day in Philadelphia, case managers from Project H.O.M.E. and the VA picked up William Joyce, 60, a homeless Vietnam veteran in a wheelchair who said he'd been sleeping at a bus terminal.

"You're an honorable veteran. You're going to get some services," outreach worker Mark Salvatore told Joyce. "You need to be connected. You don't need to be out here on the streets."

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21678030/

Call Me

400 Chrysler tech jobs go

Metro positions will be lost when computer technology tasks are outsourced to companies in India, Virginia.

Eric Morath / The Detroit News

At least 400 people will lose their jobs at Chrysler LLC as the automaker outsources computer technology work -- part of an effort to streamline its information technology department and a long-range plan to cut costs.

The transition will start immediately, though some workers may not depart until the third quarter.

Chrysler has finalized contracts with India-based Tata Consultancy Services and Virginia-based Computer Sciences Corp. to take over maintenance and support operations from internal employees, Jan Bertsch, Chrysler vice president and chief information officer, said in an interview on Wednesday.

Eliminating those jobs will allow Chrysler to invest more in advanced technology and expand its overseas reach because costs for routine operations will be greatly reduced, she said. The service contracts are valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but Chrysler would not divulge details.

Outsourcing the work will shrink Chrysler's 2,100-person information technology department, mostly in Auburn Hills. About 200 of Chrysler's 1,000 salaried technology workers will lose their jobs. The balance of the layoffs will come from the ranks of 1,100 contract workers in that department. They will leave in greater numbers, but Bertsch didn't offer specifics.

Some employees may be hired by Tata or Computer Sciences, she said, and some work will be moved entirely off-site.

The outsourcing and job losses are part of Chrysler's three-year Recovery and Transformation Plan first announced in February 2007. That plan, which was updated in November, calls for the elimination of 3,000 salaried positions and 25,000 jobs overall.

Bertsch said the plan also requires the more efficient operation of all company departments, including information technology.

Previously, the majority of technology budgets have been committed to routine tasks, leaving little money to invest in advanced technology, Bertsch said

"We are an auto manufacturer, we don't have the same scale and expertise that (technology firms) do," she said.

Tata Consultancy Services, a division of the Tata Group, which recently acquired Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover, and Computer Sciences will service hardware and manage applications for functions like product development and sales and marketing. Chrysler continues to run business analysis, customer-service operations and other key areas.

With clients worldwide, Tata and Computer Sciences are in a better position to support Chrysler's growing overseas operations, Bertsch said. "The companies have global delivery capacity and can easily invest more in new technology," she said.

Top executives have said growing Chrysler sales, manufacturing and engineering presence in developing countries is essential to returning the company to profitability.

Sending "non-core" work to a lower-cost supplier makes a lot of sense for a company fighting to return to profitability, said Van Conway, senior managing director at Birmingham-based turnaround firm Conway MacKenzie & Dunleavy.

"Profitable companies tend to take things in house, and as times get lean you see more outsourcing," he said. "It's smart, if you don't lose quality and can do it economically."

The loss of the jobs at Chrysler is an example of why, when the auto industry contracts, so does Michigan's high-tech employment base, said Scott Watkins, of the Anderson Economic Group.

"This is Chrysler catching up with the times -- most companies outsource work that's not primary to their corporate mission," he said. "This means fewer jobs for the Metro Detroit economy, but it does open up opportunities for new or existing companies to compete in this technology services space."

Debt Collection a New Frontier of India Outsourcing
By HEATHER TIMMONS
GURGAON, India — In a glass tower on the outskirts of Delhi, dozens of young Indians are on the telephone, calling America's out of work, forgetful and debt-stricken and asking for cash.

"Are you sure that's all you can afford?" one operator in a row of cubicles asks politely. "Well, how do you take care of your everyday expenses?" presses another.

Americans are used to receiving calls from India for insurance claims and credit card sales. But debt collection represents a new frontier for outsourcing, especially as the American economy slows and its consumers struggle to pay for their purchases.

Armed with a sophisticated automated system that dials tens of thousands of Americans every hour, and puts confidential information like Social Security numbers, addresses and credit history at operators' fingertips, this new breed of collectors is chasing down late car payments, overdue credit card debt and lapsed installment loans. Debt collectors in India often cost about one-quarter the price of their American counterparts, and are often better at the job, debt collection company executives say.

"India will be the only place we grow this year," said J. Brandon Black, the chief executive of the Encore Capital Group, a debt collection company based in San Diego. India is the company's largest operating area, with about half the company's collection force of more than 300.

Although the stereotype of a collector may be "some guy with chains and a cut-off shirt," Mr. Black said, collectors in India are "very polite, very respectful, and they don't raise their voice." He added, "People respond to that."

Companies like Encore buy bad loans from banks and credit card issuers for pennies on the dollar and pocket the cash they collect.

So far just a tiny fraction, maybe 5 percent, of American debt collection is done outside the country, industry executives estimate. But new business is in the pipeline.

Financial services clients are saying, "We want you to collect my debt, to analyze it and change the way that we sell" the loans, said Tiger Tyagarajan, executive vice president at Genpact, the business processing company spun off from General Electric that has roots in India. Genpact, which works with lenders to get customers to pay, rather than buying loans directly like Encore, employs thousands of debt collectors in India, Romania, Mexico and the Philippines, and is hiring in all those locations.

In the past, the prevailing wisdom about wringing money from late payers has been "if you're calling the Midwest, you want someone from the Midwest to twist their arm," said Mark Hughes, an analyst with Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey who covers the industry. That theory is changing as the pool of trained phone professionals in India and other locations deepens, and companies look outside the United States for lower costs.

Telephone debt collection represents new, more aggressive territory for India. "This is really a sales job," Mr. Hughes said. "It is commission-intensive, and you're paid on your ability to collect."

Like many sales teams, Encore's collectors in India gather for a daily pep talk before their shift. In one recent session, they were schooled on the intricacies of American tax policy.

"One hundred thirty million U.S. families will get a tax rebate this season" as part of the new economic stimulus package, Manu Sharma, the team leader, explained to a roomful of top-earning collection agents, most in their 20s. Those who qualify for the rebates will get as much $600 a person or $1,200 a household, he said, and "the I.R.S. is going to start paying this money in May."

Start bringing up the rebate during calls, he told them. "This gives you an advantage so you can increase your wallet share," he went on. "Get them set up on minimum balance arrangements" based around their tax rebates.

Once the calls start flowing, Encore's Gurgaon office resembles nothing less than the headquarters for an enthusiastic fund-raising telethon. Just minutes after collectors have put on their headsets, a supervisor yells out "Rajesh, for $35 a month for three months." All employees enthusiastically respond by clapping three times, and Rajesh is the first on the day's sales board.

Companies like Encore often schedule dozens of payments and make dozens of calls before the loan is paid off.

Encore — which also operates as Midland Capital Management — also files sheaves of lawsuits against customers who do not respond. Sometimes the debt is so old that the statute of limitations for filing a suit has passed, and it may already have vanished from a person's credit report. If the debtor makes a new payment, though, the statute of limitations starts all over again.

Credit counselors in the United States say more and more of their clients are being contacted by debt collectors based in India. Sometimes, it can cause problems. When clients "run into someone who doesn't speak English well or there is a communication gap, it can add to the frustration of the customer," said Bill Druliner, manager and financial counselor for GreenPath Debt Solutions in Milwaukee.

Debt collection, no matter who does it, can have "a devastating impact on people's lives," Mr. Druliner said, because calls can stress family relationships and sometimes debtors are pressed into paying late bills instead of buying necessities like prescriptions. Still, he said, he had not run into any specific problems with overseas debt collectors. "What they may lack in authority or ability to handle slang, they do handle the process very well and are very well spoken," he said.

Mortgage loans, which involve complex state and national laws, are nearly always handled by collectors in the United States. But credit card, auto and other debt are prime candidates for collection overseas.

Businesses in the United States put $141 billion in delinquent consumer debt up for collection in 2005, according to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers survey commissioned by an industry group, and debt collection agencies collected $51 billion that year. They kept nearly a quarter of that in profits.

Collection veterans are seeing an unusual phenomena in this economic downturn. "People are walking away from their homes and hanging on to their credit cards, because that is their lifeline," said Rajinder Singh, the head of global analytic services for GenTech.

Encore hires people with call center experience in India, and then trains them in unexpected skills like sympathy. Clients "get very abusive, very emotional, very sad," said Manu Rikhye, vice president at the Encore unit in Gurgaon. The collector's job is to "try to empathize with the consumer," he said and try to figure out, if they're angry, why. "Maybe it's us, maybe it's someone else," he said. "You have to hear what they have to say."

Collectors are taught to handle abuse by telling debtors: "This attitude is not going to get you anywhere. We can either work with you or refer you for further action," implying a lawsuit. Collectors who raise their voices or try "tough" tactics are warned, Mr. Rikhye said, and those who misrepresent facts can be fired.

Manju Muddanna, 27, who uses the name Michelle Green when she is on the phone, is one of Encore's best collectors. With laced-up stiletto sandals, wood bangles and a wad of chewing gum, she wheedles work and cellphone numbers out of debtors' relatives to track them down. Like most Encore collectors, Ms. Muddanna handles several hundred calls a day, but actually makes contact with only a handful of borrowers.

Ms. Muddanna's telephone voice veers to the school-marmish, her learned American accent into Blanche DuBois territory . When people on the other end of the phone mumble, she upbraids them, politely, "Ahhh just can't understand you, ma'am."

Encore pays its collectors in India an average base salary of 17,000 rupees ($425) a month, and they earn bonuses — sometimes more than $1,000 a month — for getting customers to pay. In contrast, collectors in the United States, make about $6,500 a month. Thanks to the income, a windfall in India, where the average monthly income is $63, collectors are amassing some of the status symbols that probably got their clients into trouble in the first place — new scooters, iPods, Swatch watches and exotic vacations.

No topic too low.

The productive work environment.

So you won't miss the commute....

Gotta love those neighbors...