The talent across the board is extremely mediocre. They hired youth because they were more willing to travel, which is not necessarily bad but there is a cost of knowledge and experience. As an example, 50 + Asian executives who sign the checks aren't interested in talking to 30 somethings and don't want to answer/negotiate with 30 somethings unless your Mark Zuckerberg. Management was and still is I hear, out of touch.
They have had egos for years that are simply out of control and the fact they couldn't protect themselves and their investors against Apple shows their lack of experience and inability to ask for help. From the management group to directors to senior executives there is nothing worse than a management group/culture that thinks they don't have an ego when they clearly show it, such as making half a billion dollar deals with the largest tech provider in the world when they have never manufactured anything!
The Mesa plant wasn't a success because GT has never manufactured anything in the history of the company much less work with high throughput manufacturing. They never perfected any processes with anything and the failure to deliver to Apple proves it. This is a company that spent 500K on an ABB robot to pick and place polysilicon and they never, ever used it! The number of failures are too many to count.
Moreover, they couldn't produce in the Mesa plant because the employees that flew down to help from other GT offices simply are not adequately skilled. Pure and simple this group of individuals is suffering from a delusional sense of high self-worth and their executives wanting bonuses after declaring bankruptcy is the icing on the cake! I have no doubt these guys actually believe they’re the only ones that can save GT. The entire executive group bankrupted the company and now Gutierrez, Keck and Squiller, want their compensation since their stock is worthless! How low can you go? Where are their ethics?