At VOGO skilled workers from he plants were promoted to positions within the general office so real world experience could be applied to processing ans tool design. This knowledge would also be transferred to the staff MEs. Then about 28 years ago management made the decision that to be a Manufacturing Engineer you needed a masters degree and I my mind that's one of the actions which started the decline. Nothing against new blood and ideas, but bringing higher cost employees in with no experience made little sense; in short you do not need a masters to process a vehicle program, it's not taught in college. It eliminated a path of promotion for some, added overhead and created opportunity cost.
I think @5vzf+1lw2omcw got it right.