A sad day, but has anything changed???

[Howdy!!]

It's a sad day for many Ford employees directly affected by today's announcements. Those of us retired also wonder in the future how this will enter into our lives. The thing that bothers me the worst about what I heard is they keep talking about bring the remaining plants up to capacity. In my 30+ years at the Wixom plant it seems the more orders we had, the faster the line run with close to the same number of workers. I assume in this case capacity means getting the needed units with as few a workers as possible. With less plants this means each remaining plant has to turn out more units than in past years. Any time we ran at or near capacity the more junk that went out the door to the customer. Hoping the dealer would finish building the unit. We all know that's a joke. If Ford would listen to the people on the factory floor they would not have the problems they claim too have now. Until Ford learns quality sells cars we don't have much to look forward to. We went through nearly the same thing back in the late 70's and it was said Ford will never go back to building cars the same way again. Guess what, as sales increased the junk started out the door to the customer again. I have no reason to think in years to come it won't happen again.

Edited January 23, 2006 by Howdy!!

[pwilli60]

Howie, you are so right. Quality is everything until it interfers with numbers. Then the answer is,

"they'll catch out in the shop". Same as in 80's and 90's. Numbers off the line is what counts.

Never let Dearborn know there's any problems. My performance review will be affected if my plant

has problems. Just ship it on to the next guy.

[BT]

It's a sad day for many Ford employees directly affected by today's announcements. Those of us retired also wonder in the future how this will enter into our lives. The thing that bothers me the worst about what I heard is they keep talking about bring the remaining plants up to capacity. In my 30+ years at the Wixom plant it seems the more orders we had, the faster the line run with close to the same number of workers. I assume in this case capacity means getting the needed units with as few a workers as possible. With less plants this means each remaining plant has to turn out more units than in past years. Any time we ran at or near capacity the more junk that went out the door to the customer. Hoping the dealer would finish building the unit. We all know that's a joke. If Ford would listen to the people on the factory floor they would not have the problems they claim too have now. Until Ford learns quality sells cars we don't have much to look forward to. We went through nearly the same thing back in the late 70's and it was said Ford will never go back to building cars the same way again. Guess what, as sales increased the junk started out the door to the customer again. I have no reason to think in years to come it won't happen again.

 

Hell it going to happen tonight!

CNN AC360 is going to run a story about how Ford shit on the customers by not putting shields on the all the Panther line or what's left of it. I just can't get over watching these asshole stand up there and tell me how we have to change and have to meet the customers demands and then let a story like this even get media attention. for what 5 dollars a car. that 5 buck just cost 1200 ppl their jobs and the credibility of Ford Motor Company. And not just once but repeatedly for the last 5 years this issue has been in the media spotlight. Their fucken stupid and they should be the ones looking for work .

[Howdy!!]

Until Bill Ford understands he needs to promote from the factory floor so the people around him know the IN's and OUT'S of what really goes on down on the factory floor. Things will only go down hill. Hiring people that only know what they have read in books and been told is no substitute for experience. This needs to be applied from the floor zone supervisor to Bill himself. How many days do you think it would take Bill Ford to learn one of those jobs on the line??

[pwilli60]

I ask the readers of this forum this question. Has anyone ever in all their years at FORD

ever seen a Plant Manager come out and stop production. I mean come out and say, "this

shit stops right here right now." I know in my 29 years I've never seen it and until I do I'll

never buy that quality BS they put out in Dearborn.

 

Want to know what they think of the customer? Just have a warranty problem and see

how fast the district office gets it resolved to the customer's satisfaction. Without law suit

threats they'll stonewall hoping the customer just gives up and FORD has lost another buyer

for life.

[ebritt]

I ask the readers of this forum this question. Has anyone ever in all their years at FORD

ever seen a Plant Manager come out and stop production. I mean come out and say, "this

shit stops right here right now." I know in my 29 years I've never seen it and until I do I'll

never buy that quality BS they put out in Dearborn.

 

Want to know what they think of the customer? Just have a warranty problem and see

how fast the district office gets it resolved to the customer's satisfaction. Without law suit

threats they'll stonewall hoping the customer just gives up and FORD has lost another buyer

for life.

 

YES!!!! Thats what I have been tryin to tell these guys! After Ford treated me like shit when my 04 Trans went tits up. And it was the factory screw up that put the wrong tranny fluid in and they told me they would cjange the fluid and put in an additive for free.....after the trans burnt up. I have owned a lot of Fords in the past but not anymore...and its a damn shame.

[Twincam Harley]

YES!!!! Thats what I have been tryin to tell these guys! After Ford treated me like shit when my 04 Trans went tits up. And it was the factory screw up that put the wrong tranny fluid in and they told me they would cjange the fluid and put in an additive for free.....after the trans burnt up. I have owned a lot of Fords in the past but not anymore...and its a damn shame.

 

Just an FYI, tranny fluid is not usually added at the factory. They come from the transmission plant with the fluid already in them. Our transmissions (Explorer) are made in a foreign country, either France or Japan. I can't remember which. Somebody can probably help me out on that one.

 

However, we are responsible to our customers no matter where the parts of the vehicle are built. You didn't buy a transmission from Ford, you bought a vehicle from Ford. We do go after them for the recall or warranty dollars if they screw up.

 

I had the same fluid issue with my Explorer. I wasn't having any major problems though. Got the notice, took it in and done. Sorry to hear about your problems.

[JKE]

Until Bill Ford understands he needs to promote from the factory floor so the people around him know the IN's and OUT'S of what really goes on down on the factory floor. Things will only go down hill. Hiring people that only know what they have read in books and been told is no substitute for experience. This needs to be applied from the floor zone supervisor to Bill himself. How many days do you think it would take Bill Ford to learn one of those jobs on the line??

 

Great idea, this is how the Toyota plants operate, Ford would improve greatly if they did the same thing.

 

Toyota plant manager's and executives must work the line so that they do know what is going down on the factory floor, they have done the work.

 

Also Toyota does not have the UAW causing problems.

[hendew_15]

I ask the readers of this forum this question. Has anyone ever in all their years at FORD

ever seen a Plant Manager come out and stop production. I mean come out and say, "this

shit stops right here right now." I know in my 29 years I've never seen it and until I do I'll

never buy that quality BS they put out in Dearborn.

 

Want to know what they think of the customer? Just have a warranty problem and see

how fast the district office gets it resolved to the customer's satisfaction. Without law suit

threats they'll stonewall hoping the customer just gives up and FORD has lost another buyer

for life.

My Plant manager did not stop the line but he did shut down the yard more than once until every car was refit and checked to spec.I repeat every car,I personally refit every car with another guy in 8 hours in the cold.Then the next morning he and his squad personally checked 200 cars with the gauges and made sure thaey were acceptable to ship and then dayshift finished up.I know if my plant manager goes to another plant they will be lucky the man cares about the workers and cares about what goes out the door.

[Howdy!!]

Plant manager shutting a line down! Very few plant managers know what's happening out on the floor. And many don't want to know. It's all about getting the numbers off the end of the line and out the door. I had several supervisors say make me look good. In other words don't let the plant manager find out about this, hide it. We had a few good salaried personal that really tried to do right. They fought for there workers and contacted upper management to get problems solved. What happened to them. Some were moved to cleanup supervisors or into other zones. This was in the mid 60's to mid 90's, maybe things are not the same today. But like I said in a earlier post, hiring folks fresh out of college into management positions has to stop. Experience will turn the company around, book smart fresh out of college will not.