To:Bill Ford Jr., Mark Fields, et al

[Pumpmaster]

Here's my plan to rebuild our company:

 

1) Since Toyota is the largest and most profitable car company in the world, let's compete with---and at the same time, emulate---them! How?

2) Let's compete in every segment that Toyota does. Example: Scion. Let's make entry-level vehicles to compete with Scion. But with a twist: let's make these vehicles in the U.S.---with U.S. made components.

Bill, isn't our latest slogan "American Innovation?" OK; let's make these vehicles in America, with American-built components. That way, we can emulate the best, and, at the same time, be different from them.

3) Put customers first---really! Give dealers the resources (read:money) they need to make every customer happy. For example, if that means giving a customer who gets a bad Powerstroke another truck, then do it.

4) Keep as many plants as possible, and put product in them!

5) Dissolve ACH; make these Ford plants again. Why? The company "took back" the Rawsonville, Sterling, and Ypsilanti plants; the company funds and controls the ACH plants anyway. Invest in and source these facilities for components for the new vehicles.

6) Finally, in case you are unaware---employee morale is at an all-time low, especially in the salaried ranks. How to fix that? Don't lay-off any more salaried people. Restore salaried pay & benefits to top-of-the-industry standards. Make the salaried folks in the ACH plants Ford employees---and keep them. Talk to all U.S. employees, and tell them we're going to compete with Toyota---and win. Morale would soar overnight!

 

I have 19.5 years as a Ford hourly employee, and I want our company to survive and succeed for all Ford employees, customers, and stakeholders. Thanks for listening.

 

John Kiel

Indianapolis Steering Systems Plant

Indianapolis, IN

[Undertow]

Here's my plan to rebuild our company:

 

1) Since Toyota is the largest and most profitable car company in the world, let's compete with---and at the same time, emulate---them! How?

2) Let's compete in every segment that Toyota does. Example: Scion. Let's make entry-level vehicles to compete with Scion. But with a twist: let's make these vehicles in the U.S.---with U.S. made components.

Bill, isn't our latest slogan "American Innovation?" OK; let's make these vehicles in America, with American-built components. That way, we can emulate the best, and, at the same time, be different from them.

3) Put customers first---really! Give dealers the resources (read:money) they need to make every customer happy. For example, if that means giving a customer who gets a bad Powerstroke another truck, then do it.

4) Keep as many plants as possible, and put product in them!

5) Dissolve ACH; make these Ford plants again. Why? The company "took back" the Rawsonville, Sterling, and Ypsilanti plants; the company funds and controls the ACH plants anyway. Invest in and source these facilities for components for the new vehicles.

6) Finally, in case you are unaware---employee morale is at an all-time low, especially in the salaried ranks. How to fix that? Don't lay-off any more salaried people. Restore salaried pay & benefits to top-of-the-industry standards. Make the salaried folks in the ACH plants Ford employees---and keep them. Talk to all U.S. employees, and tell them we're going to compete with Toyota---and win. Morale would soar overnight!

 

I have 19.5 years as a Ford hourly employee, and I want our company to survive and succeed for all Ford employees, customers, and stakeholders. Thanks for listening.

 

John Kiel

Indianapolis Steering Systems Plant

Indianapolis, IN

 

 

John,

 

I agree with most of what you said, but I thought by the end of the 2nd paragraph this was a UAW influenced writing, by the end of the 6th I was sure. That said, you make some good points:

 

 

 

My first point of disagreement, line 4, is that we need to close some plants and eliminate the jobs that go with them to align with market share, it is a sick & cruel world. You are 100% right when you say we need to fight to get market share back, the fact that we have no plan to do this has me terrified. If any of our manufacturing facilities ran with this loser attitude, it would be long gone - there is no intensity to get in the market share game... we can always just shrink our way out of existance.

 

I also had 1 point of disagreement with line 6. You hit one of my 2 biggest morale issues on the head: We don't have the balls to take on the competition, plain and simple. Our stock would go up $2 a share over night if Bill Ford would just announce plans to go after the market share to put the plants he is not closing at capacity. Until this happens, we are all wearing concrete shoes. Where I disagree, is on the salary cutbacks: this was a major morale problem, but mostly in the manner it was handled: again, we did not have the balls to cut the worst performers out of the salary ranks. Salary personnel are not bargained for, and have no business using seniority as the sole factor in our cutbacks. This saves a lot of lawsuits, but doesn't do much for the future of a company. This has the most telented motivated people I know sending out resumes.

[Pumpmaster]

What do you mean by "a UAW influenced writing?" Explain.

[jmorreau]

To Bill Ford and Mark Fields of the Ford Motor Co.About a year ago I went to the plant manager office of the St Thomas Assembly Plant with a detailed plan on how we could build a two door Marauder with only the need of stamping out a new door and a quarter panel. The plant manager thought it was a good idea and sent it to the engineer at the plant and they said it could be done. They sent the information to head office and they killed it.I told the plant manager to give me a scrap car and some door and we could build one to show at the Auto Show.That would have been the cheapest car you guys ever built .You would have been paying two hourly guys to build it and it would have been awsome. Well enough of that now I have a few ideas but I will leave with this. The year was 1976 and the Tbird was fully loaded and a low volume expensive car but you guys at Ford had a surprise for 1977. You introduced a basic lower priced car and that year sold 177000 of them .I say why don't you change the front and back of the LS and bring it back as a lower priced Ford or Mercury.Who knows maybe a replay of 1977 after all it is coming up to 2007.If you like that one I have a few more.

[butthead]

Its a simple idea that would work as long as you dont try to fool the buyer. Put it out just like it is and make the necessary changes as needed. Give them a fair price and get it on.

 

Why do they run a car line down the drain and get rid of a product that still could comand market share/profit. It must be impossible to re-skin the Panther line and give the 50 year old buyer who has CASH something they would buy. TC is a perfect example of how Ford mismanages and really does need suggestions on what REAL people want.

 

You need to stop flying around the country trying to be celeberity CEO's etc. and start doing the right thing.

[ebritt]

2. They will not build small cheap cars in the US. The labor costs will not give them the proffit margin they want so forget it.

3. Shareholders are first. Shareholders, especially the big ones have more influence and can cause more damage than the lowly customer. The company can screw the customer to no end and get away with it. The shareholder can take their money and go to the competition.

6. Morale is a non issue to nearly all major comapnies.As long as some money is coming in, how "you" feel means nothing to them.

 

[butthead]

Q. Who do think holds the most F stock next to the Ford Family.

A. Ford employees through their 401k. Pay checks hence moral is very important divi is second.

[pjbrunk]

Random thoughts on saving Ford Motor Company

 

1) Build exciting products. From the bottom up, from the least expensive car, go after class leadership and take no prisoners.

 

What do I mean?

Base model: You need a Civic beater. This means you need a smooth, variable valve twin cam motor that makes 1HP/Liter that is quiet and smooth and makes lots of torque too. Supercharging is cheap. Take a look at the WRX from Subaru and get those seats and steering wheel into the vehicle too.

 

Mid-size

Restyle the new Ford Fusion front end. Fast. No-- faster. It is ugly. I hear great things about the interior. Interior styling only sells after you get someone into the car. Exterior styling get's 'em to look closer. Go back and re-negotiate with Yahama and get the old V6 4-cam motor out of the storage bin and start refining it from there. Get the V8 model too, and add supercharging to both and you'll have wild HP and torque figures, and MPG to boot.

 

Full size:

Dump the Crown Victoria. I don't care if you make money on it. Just bury the tooling and cover it in concrete. Resurrect the LS platform and stretch it a bit if you have to, but don't kill the best thing you've made in 25 years and throw it away? Build that new Marauder one of your employees talked about. Paint it red, put some chrome wheels on it, and be sure to offer a six-speed auto AND manual trans. It's got to get 30mpg on the highway and still hit sub-14 in the quarter mile. You'll have to see it for $30K or less or forget it.

 

Truck:

Get a Caterpillar Diesel Engine plan going. International's image is tarnished by the 6.0 mess. Caterpillar has the best brand-- combine with them and win. Turbodiesel hybrid solves truck economy issues. No less than 15MPG city and 24HWY for an Excursion-sized vehicle.

 

Family SUV--

Get some decent economy out of the Explorer and Expedition. Call the new Excursion "Enterprise" and get Shattner to drive it! Power it with a hybrid diesel with direct injection (as soon as our fuel catches up).

Get some head room into the Explorer-- what is going on in the interior's group? A 6' male has to look through the top 2" of the windshield to see out! I've got more headroom in a 1984 CRX!

 

Dealerships?

Old worn-out dealerships don't compare to new ones. Find a way to build new dealerships. Provide a REAL price on the sticker, and stop the cycle of rebates and incentives. Save those for year-end.

 

 

Above all-- do a better job of benchmarking your competition. Make them come to you down the road. Right now you need to catch up to them. You know who they are.

[jmorreau]

Tri boy bad advice you just keep running and let the other guys help the company.These forums are to help the company .

[svtbird91]

Random thoughts on saving Ford Motor Company

 

1) Build exciting products. From the bottom up, from the least expensive car, go after class leadership and take no prisoners.

 

What do I mean?

Base model: You need a Civic beater. This means you need a smooth, variable valve twin cam motor that makes 1HP/Liter that is quiet and smooth and makes lots of torque too. Supercharging is cheap. Take a look at the WRX from Subaru and get those seats and steering wheel into the vehicle too.

 

Mid-size

Restyle the new Ford Fusion front end. Fast. No-- faster. It is ugly. I hear great things about the interior. Interior styling only sells after you get someone into the car. Exterior styling get's 'em to look closer. Go back and re-negotiate with Yahama and get the old V6 4-cam motor out of the storage bin and start refining it from there. Get the V8 model too, and add supercharging to both and you'll have wild HP and torque figures, and MPG to boot.

 

 

Dealerships?

Old worn-out dealerships don't compare to new ones. Find a way to build new dealerships. Provide a REAL price on the sticker, and stop the cycle of rebates and incentives. Save those for year-end.

Above all-- do a better job of benchmarking your competition. Make them come to you down the road. Right now you need to catch up to them. You know who they are.

 

 

Interesting ideas ,just want to add one more. if you want the Fusion to apeal to the younger crowd why not have the V-6 engine available with a 5 or 6 speed manual trans. Most German and Japan imports offer this.

You are missing a large and important market segment with your newest product. Not offering this type of option is why, instead of hitting a home run you only end up with a single or a double.

 

I like the idea of a more powerful engine option also, either V-6 or V-8 or V-6 supercharged SVT version AWD at an afordable price.

Edited January 24, 2006 by svtbird91

[jshep]

Here's a suggestion to save Ford Motor Company some big bucks in the coming years........Get rid of the ridiculous FPS program......Maybe I can't see the big picture, but, to me, we have wasted millions and millions on this nonsense.....I, personally, have never talked to a single person, hourly or salary, who doesn't think this program is a joke........All the stupid tagging and lableing of trash cans, lockers, fans, brooms and the like like is, at best, laughable. All the sophisticated FPS Bulletin Boards throughout the plants that NOBODY ever looks at is so much money down the drain. I'm sure it's futile to make such a suggestion, because eliminating this useless program would probably never be considered. But anyone can see that this frivilous nonsense is not needed.................

[NickF1011]

Here's my plan to rebuild our company:

 

1) Since Toyota is the largest and most profitable car company in the world, let's compete with---and at the same time, emulate---them! How?

2) Let's compete in every segment that Toyota does. Example: Scion. Let's make entry-level vehicles to compete with Scion. But with a twist: let's make these vehicles in the U.S.---with U.S. made components.

Bill, isn't our latest slogan "American Innovation?" OK; let's make these vehicles in America, with American-built components. That way, we can emulate the best, and, at the same time, be different from them.

3) Put customers first---really! Give dealers the resources (read:money) they need to make every customer happy. For example, if that means giving a customer who gets a bad Powerstroke another truck, then do it.

4) Keep as many plants as possible, and put product in them!

5) Dissolve ACH; make these Ford plants again. Why? The company "took back" the Rawsonville, Sterling, and Ypsilanti plants; the company funds and controls the ACH plants anyway. Invest in and source these facilities for components for the new vehicles.

6) Finally, in case you are unaware---employee morale is at an all-time low, especially in the salaried ranks. How to fix that? Don't lay-off any more salaried people. Restore salaried pay & benefits to top-of-the-industry standards. Make the salaried folks in the ACH plants Ford employees---and keep them. Talk to all U.S. employees, and tell them we're going to compete with Toyota---and win. Morale would soar overnight!

 

I have 19.5 years as a Ford hourly employee, and I want our company to survive and succeed for all Ford employees, customers, and stakeholders. Thanks for listening.

 

John Kiel

Indianapolis Steering Systems Plant

Indianapolis, IN

 

Your plan only works if somehow Ford discovers cold fusion and is able to sell it to the government for $100 trillion.....that's about how much all of those things would cost to do. Well, okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but EVERYTHING you mentioned would cost more money to implement than it would create in new revenue.

 

Closing plants and "right-sizing", as cliche as it sounds, are the only solutions that make sense.

[jmorreau]

Question Who builds a 2 door rear wheel drive V8 car a 40 year old man and his wife and 2 children and dog can pack there four suitcases in and drive in comfort all over North America and when wife and kids are gone play with the young guys in the mustangs. Answer . Nobody yet But the Challenger is pretty close except for the luggage.It won't take the boys long to figure out that while the Challenger is competing with the Mustang that there is a market for a mid or large 2 door car and do a repeat of 1964 when GM introduced the GTO.I am still waiting for such a car and if Ford don't want to build it then I will buy it off someone who will.