Bill Ford's New Vision

[Blue Oval Staff]

article link

[sparks will fly]

3 point plan, great. In this he talks about getting more SKILLED help from the outside. Hell in the assembly side they want to combine the SKILLED TRADES. So what is he saying? On our level anyway? He has some of the most talented people in the world already working for him and he doesn't listen to them now. Before everyboby tells me how we are a cost burden to the company remember this IF THE LINE IS NOT RUNNING, NO PROFITS ARE GOING OUT THE DOOR. When your workforce supports that and does what it can to keep the line running as quickly and efficently as possible the question becomes why don't you want to be resoncable for your own equipment?

[jasik]

There is an old saying. The larger the distance between you and another person, the more of an expert that person becomes. Corollary: management is more likely to believe outside advice than inside advice!

[sparks will fly]

There is an old saying. The larger the distance between you and another person, the more of an expert that person becomes. Corollary: management is more likely to believe outside advice than inside advice!

 

Thats about sums it up for skilled trades ever since management long longer had a maintanence back ground.

[J-150]

There is an old saying. The larger the distance between you and another person, the more of an expert that person becomes. Corollary: management is more likely to believe outside advice than inside advice!

 

 

 

its fair to say that inside advice is tainted at all levels.

 

Besides, going outside for help... isn't that what you guys have been crying for?

[Footballfan]

Analysis of the three point plan:

 

1) "I am reviewing regularly with Mark Fields and his team the progress they are making on reaching our objectives and pushing to make certain that we do so."

 

Really, why have you waited ten years to push your management team?

 

2) "It's apparent to me that Ford Motor Company cannot achieve the benefits of its size and global reach without greater integration at the operational level."

 

Really? This sounds really "bold" and "innovative" to me! After all, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler, and GM have been doing this for years.

 

3) "Over the past few months, I have made it my business to become more personally involved in the detailed operations of our business."

 

How admirable! What a novel concept- a guy who is a CEO of a Fortune 500 company with his name on it actually spending more time at the job and not hob-nobbing at his daddy's football team and Detroit Economic Club, and with school visits! I bet there is not too many CEOs that do this :rolleyes:

 

4) "These should not be days of 'fear' for the people of the Ford Motor Company as one headline put it recently."

 

I guess that is easy for a billionaire like him to say. Actually, these are days of glory- lower market share, piss poor morale. But I am sure that people are more than happy to sacrifice their careers for Billy's mistakes.

[DCK]

Analysis of the three point plan:

 

1) "I am reviewing regularly with Mark Fields and his team the progress they are making on reaching our objectives and pushing to make certain that we do so."

 

Really, why have you waited ten years to push your management team?

 

2) "It's apparent to me that Ford Motor Company cannot achieve the benefits of its size and global reach without greater integration at the operational level."

 

Really? This sounds really "bold" and "innovative" to me! After all, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler, and GM have been doing this for years.

 

3) "Over the past few months, I have made it my business to become more personally involved in the detailed operations of our business."

 

How admirable! What a novel concept- a guy who is a CEO of a Fortune 500 company with his name on it actually spending more time at the job and not hob-nobbing at his daddy's football team and Detroit Economic Club, and with school visits! I bet there is not too many CEOs that do this :rolleyes:

 

4) "These should not be days of 'fear' for the people of the Ford Motor Company as one headline put it recently."

 

I guess that is easy for a billionaire like him to say. Actually, these are days of glory- lower market share, piss poor morale. But I am sure that people are more than happy to sacrifice their careers for Billy's mistakes.

Pretty much sums it up, this memo was the purest form of propaganda and a slap in the face to the employees. Right now with the information revealed, one thing is certain..............that Ford has not changed enough for the better to pull them out of their pit....................Let's see if information we don't know will change that.

[CPManx]

So Bill Ford's epiphany boils down to this:

 

Figure out how to sell cars at a profit in North America.

Figure out what all those other parts of the company overseas are doing.

Find some people who can, you know, manage stuff and then bring them in to mange the company.

 

I'd laugh if it weren't so sad. Ford's bumbling execs are killing the company and taking its workers down in the process. I know that I'm preaching to the choir here, but how did the Ford family let things stay so bad for so long? Doesn't it pain them to see their equity in the company (not to mention the company itself) shrivel to a meager fraction of what it was a dozen years ago?