ANTAUS Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 LINK-Detroit News Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 I thought this would be about the Ford Focus. Sexytime, very niiice... Although, that color just looks 80s on the Focus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 LINK-Detroit News AWESOME.....free fresh ideas from people that do it for a living, not Scotch sipping 2 handicappers with secret handshakes and tony jacklin golf clubs.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Jellymoulds Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 It sounds like a very practical idea; it sound like Fords Design Office will be more rewarding, and become a very exiting place to be in the future. I just hope the Design Team, up the use of composite materials in within their future designs; it can only end up being a win win for Ford. More composite use would improve MPG; give better Performance, and make the car lighter & more corrosion resistant adding to. It would be great to see all Ford models having say 10 MPG more and 10 MPH more than the equivalent Toyota models designed into them by use of more composites. It would all make the car salesman job a little bit easier; it would also further help break the reliance on Arab energy supplies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 (edited) Here's a novel idea for Dearborn: Ford Motor Co. is giving its engineers two days a week to do nothing but engineer. That means no meetings, no design reviews, no other distractions -- just designing new cars and trucks. It might seem like a no-brainer, but engineers who spoke with The Detroit News said this is nothing short of revolutionary at a company famous for its Byzantine bureaucracy and constant meetings. The move, which was announced during a recent employee Webcast, is part of a broader effort to streamline Ford's product development system spearheaded by Ford Vice President Derrick Kuzak "(It is) two days a week for the engineers to focus on engineering. That's exactly what we call it: focus time," Kuzak said. "What that means is taking away bureaucracy, taking away meetings that they don't need to attend. It's indicating that we consider their time important." Details of the new program are still being hammered out, but Kuzak said it will be up to each engineering team to decide which two days are declared meeting-free. Emilio Brahmst, an engineering expert at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, said Ford is making a smart move. "To me, it makes sense. But it's probably going to be difficult to implement," he said. "You have to change your entire (engineering) process." That is exactly what Kuzak is trying to do. Since being tapped by CEO Alan Mulally to lead the automaker's global product development efforts in December, he has been working to strip layers of bureaucracy out of Ford's vehicle engineering system and better leverage the company's global design and development resources. Many Ford engineers have told The News that they are enthusiastic about Kuzak's efforts to reform the company's approach to product development, but they are also frustrated about the slow pace of change. "I hear that also," Kuzak acknowledged. "The organization really needs to see it confirmed that we're serious, and that it actually is going to occur -- occur with quality -- and that we won't fall back into bad habits. It's up to us to live up the commitment." It's no wonder Ford takes so long to bring models to production, it seems like one big meeting-a-thon where engineers have to justify every move they make. How many good minds gave up over the years and left, tired of beaurocratic bungling. It sounds very much like what old Henry Ford used to do, his failing to relinquish to control of everything, all stemming from not trusting subordinates. It's good to see both Mulally and Kuzack are getting to the heart of problems in Ford, there's nothing worse than a superficial gloss over problems - that would be an inspiration killer. Funny how we can see it's vital to let engineers engineer but Ford needs to stop all of these silly time and resource wasting processes. Another good move would be to revisit the design and engineering philosophy initiated during the early 1980s on the original Taurus project. Ford could find no better model than what those guys did, it showed in their product being well designed, engineered and ahead of the competition. Edited June 8, 2007 by jpd80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 I thought this would be about the Ford Focus. Sexytime, very niiice... Although, that color just looks 80s on the Focus. Hey; Midnight Regatta Blue Rocks! :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcsario Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 (edited) According to people who worked at Ford who post here, there are a lot of projects that are way past their deadlines. Projects that are key parts of upcoming production vehicles. Ford should concentrate the extra time on them, not on pet projects that just spread the focus of engineers further. Terrible timing. Edited June 8, 2007 by pcsario Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomServo92 Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 According to people who worked at Ford who post here, there are a lot of projects that are way past their deadlines. Projects that are key parts of upcoming production vehicles. Ford should concentrate the extra time on them, not on pet projects that just spread the focus of engineers further. Terrible timing. The article never said anything about "pet projects". The way I read it is that they want engineers to stop wasting time on useless meetings and actually do what they were hired to do: design cars (which by the way is exactly what will take care of the problem in your first statement). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swenson88 Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 According to people who worked at Ford who post here, there are a lot of projects that are way past their deadlines. Projects that are key parts of upcoming production vehicles. Ford should concentrate the extra time on them, not on pet projects that just spread the focus of engineers further. Terrible timing. You know that saying about rose-colored glasses? I think your glasses are shit-colored. You should go to LensCrafters and try a new pair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 The article never said anything about "pet projects". The way I read it is that they want engineers to stop wasting time on useless meetings and actually do what they were hired to do: design cars (which by the way is exactly what will take care of the problem in your first statement). shedding beaurecratic BS is how I read it....focus on ones job, have input rather than mandatory yawn -offs where NOTHING is acheived other than coffee consumption and fake atta boys to maintain ones job security........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcsario Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 The article never said anything about "pet projects". The way I read it is that they want engineers to stop wasting time on useless meetings and actually do what they were hired to do: design cars (which by the way is exactly what will take care of the problem in your first statement). The article is not very clear about that, but if that's the case then it's the right call. swenson88, the person I'm talking about was still at Ford this past January, and that's what I got from the article originally so I didn't see how adding more projects, instead of more engineering talent to the existing projects, would've helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 The article is not very clear about that, but if that's the case then it's the right call. swenson88, the person I'm talking about was still at Ford this past January, and that's what I got from the article originally so I didn't see how adding more projects, instead of more engineering talent to the existing projects, would've helped. then understand his comments were perhaps from a hostile side of the fence due to his personal agenda with all the cuts and layoffs...he probably works for Consumer Reports now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Funny thing about intertwined beaurocracy, if you get rid of the right parts, the rest withers and dies too. We'll never know just how much Ford sabotaged itself internally, maybe the light at the end of the tunnel has been switched on again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Yep. Pretty pathetic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Thing is, Pioneer, on an org chart, you're about the same as an engineer. They ain't upper management. Like you, they are tasked with 'doing things' not coordinating things. Meetings and coordination are vital in this business, as there are thousands of moving parts on a vehicle. However, 'death by committee' is a very real problem in any large organization. Without a clear focus on goals, meetings degenerate into instruments for office politics. In the calling of meetings, as well as the domination of meetings by certain individuals, power games are played. When the ultimate goal of the organization is the attainment of power, and the exercising of it for one's own benefit, meetings become battlegrounds. At every step, throughout the organization, the power wielded by an individual must be carefully constrained to that which is necessary for executing the task at hand, and that individual must be held accountable by his/her superiors for the exercise of that power. In a dysfunctional and anarchic environment, such as we've seen at Ford, the attainment of power becomes the primary goal of many of the most ambitious employees. These ambitious employees succeed in subverting the logical and rational process of developing products into wars over resources and influence. From the top down, there needs to be a culture of empowerment and accountability. Within well defined (and stable) boundaries, an employee should be given a relatively unlimited freedom to act. However, abuse of that freedom must result in consequences. The problem is that this structure can only be imposed from the top down, and Ford has, for too long, had autocratic leadership. It is their 'gift' to the auto industry. If Alfred P. Sloan built the model of the modern corporation, his lessons have been much better learned elsewhere. Henry Ford's mercurial brilliance and autocratic management have been Detroit's true legacy, to its lasting detriment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 (edited) It confirms that an outsider like Alan Mulally was needed to unravel all the self serving beaurocracy built up in Ford. Hard to imagine a place where "Captain Obvious" would save billions. Staggering beyond belief! Edited June 9, 2007 by jpd80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Staggering beyond belief! Yeah. Alan in Wonderland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Yeah. Alan in Wonderland. More like wizzard of OZ, This ain't Kansas Toto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 (edited) More like wizzard of OZ, This ain't Kansas Toto. <snort> L. Frank Baum 'set' the Wizard of Oz in South Dakota--he had spent a few years running a newspaper in Aberdeen, and had just barely been to Kansas. It's alleged he set the novel in Kansas because it was more familiar. Edited June 9, 2007 by RichardJensen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Jellymoulds Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 When is Ford going use it’s talented Engineering Design Team to Design a house to drop on the wicked witch of the east Jap crap Toyota, the sooner the better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theoldwizard Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 AWESOME.....free fresh ideas from people that do it for a living, not Scotch sipping 2 handicappers with secret handshakes and tony jacklin golf clubs.... Actually the way I see it, Management will go to meetings, someone will read an engineers report, and when there are questions, no engineers will be there to answer. Either no decisions will be made or they will be made in a (partial) vacuum ! Sounds like business as usual !! One of the big reasons I retired ! True Story. Dec 2006, just days before the management buy outs had to be turned in (LL5 and above; that's sort of like Salary Grade 12 and above; most "white shirts" on the factory floor are SG 8 or 9) I was in a "skip level" meeting with an Assistant Chief Engineer (LL3; sort of like a SG16 or 18?) with about 5 others. This is a type of meeting where engineering management is supposed to listen to any "issues" that the engineers have. Listen, yes; Act ? Ha-Ha-Ha I pointed out that decisions made in the previous 6 - 12 months had added a great deal of complexity to the engineering process in his area and there were many issues that had still not been resolved and that would likely cause delays in key engineering deliverables in 2007. (Internally this is called The Tsunami.) After listen to me for about 10-15 minutes (boy, was I on a tear :happy feet: ) he finally said, "Well we reviewed these decisions with the Department Managers !" My response was, "But you did not review them with the Technical Experts and Engineers who have to do the work !" As I said before, management makes decisions with incomplete data ! As for The Tsunami, folks in the office some folks are saying "Where has all the water gone down at the beach !" The smart ones are running for the hills ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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