paintguy

Hope you are able to navigate the process. Prayers going your way.

Survivor Benefit is set up at time of retirement. I retired in 2017 and the "standard" was 2/3 benefit. 50%, 100% and 0% were options. To select anything other than 2/3 required spousal approval. This assumes the spouse was on the employees record, were married at the time of retirement. Believe when I retired also included same sex domestic partners when declared. Information was needed as the benefit amount change based on the age of the spouse or SSDP.

Very true. Ford knows how much an extra week of changeover time on a launch costs. Loss of quality or goodwill when problems result from that launch, hard to place a number on it. Ford managers and Contract companies being evaluated and pay/bonus determine by reporting "Green Status."

So true. I attended many of these as well. Even took some online classes when required for engineers and earned some "merit badges" and a beautiful plaque. Trouble followed when the principles would be compromised for some short term gain. Mullaly seemed the last one to value honest evaluations of programs and quality goals. The marketing guy that followed did not understand production. The furniture guy, all I ever heard were football metaphors. After that I retired. Hearing from some former coworkers, looks like too many parts shortages, incomplete builds and rework. All recipes for poor quality. The plants are built to run. Starts and stops need to be planned well to preserve quality. I mostly comment from a Paint perspective, but from what I observed in other areas, it remains true.

Decker, Doing much better. Glad you were finally able to take your walk. Hear there is a vacuum at all levels. They probably will keep trying to call you back in.

Think if Alan is up to it, he may be the man to bring back Boeing.

Look also at the reason he would impose the tariff. Lack of cooperation on illegal migration or drug trafficking. Those tariffs are also a great barrier to trade desired by Mexico and Canada. Think that is incentive for Mexico and Canada to aid some American efforts. And no, I don't expect Mexico to build a wall. This is as far as I will go. Don't want to be too political.

Agree with the sentiment. Ford took away the handling as an option, unless you want a Mustang. Crown Vic and Cayenne an interesting comparison. Price points are radically different. It seems premium products from Ford (Lincoln) are not oriented in the direction of performance.

The sedan, or dare I say even the coupe can have better handling and performance than an SUV or truck. Certainly my Ford Taurus SHO has some performance potential, albeit in a size larger than many may desire. I've driven Explorers of the same vintage. The weight and height make it feel more ponderous. At the time, 2014, got a great price (A-plan) and a substantial rebate. Rebate significantly higher than an equivalent Explorer, which was more expensive to start with and built on the same assembly line. In the end, I understand why Ford cut the sedans. To keep up, substantial investment would be required. At the same time, Ford is faced with electrification costs, perhaps forced by regulation (trying to stay non political). It seems electric sedans have performance. Some of this is used as a sales tool. If this proves to be a segment, I expect Ford to try as well.

At the risk of being political, "Death to America" sounds close to inciting insurrection. Can only hope Teamsters were unaware of this in their house.

For the transplant manufacturers, they would be foolish to accept an overall UAW contract like the Big 3. Those companies have seen the troubles of domestic manufacturers. Some of their managers used to work the Big 3.

My brother has 3 kids, all exceptionally tall. Expedition and Navigator has filled his need for family transport.

Agree 100%. One of the best plant managers I had used to say of launch: "You find a problem early in the build, it might cost $100 to fix. After Job1, $1 million might not fix it". Agree Farley is moving in a correct direction. Hope the next levels of management get the quality focus hard wired into their DNA.

Too often, quality is relegated to a program or campaign of limited duration. Japanese companies just have it as a way of doing business. Ford culture also has a habit of rewarding reporting of "Green Status" for new model programs and systems. Mulally tried to rid this tendency. Backsliding after his departure was rapid. Launches reported at green status, when it was anything but. Suppliers and contractors were all but forced to indulge the fantasy. Cost reduction goals have led suppliers to cut corners and have Ford engineers accept to meet a target. Then leave it for the assembly line to make it work.

Or 1/4 of a BEV...