Jump to content

More Good Press :(


Recommended Posts

25 minutes ago, jcartwright99 said:

The Freep really has it in for Ford right now.

 

BTW, Glencoe is a very rich north shore town.  Very rich folk that demand perfection or complain.

 

Its indicative of how the press is these days-they take the old adage, if it bleeds it leads and turn it up 100x to draw in people to a page to sell advertising. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure this will all get sorted. But all new line, built in record time, a new platform, and a 100-year plant in the midst of labor contract negotiations seem to have conspired to make this a particularly troubled vehicle launch. Not making any excuses, but this is why I typically wait until at least late in the year of a major redesign to purchase. I have two and a quarter years before my Nautilus lease is up, which should be enough time to get me to the second year after the Nautilus' upcoming redesign.

Edited by Gurgeh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

“As part of the launch of Lincoln Aviator, we were shipping vehicles to Flat Rock for additional quality checks and inspections. This is a longstanding practice at Ford Motor Co. with all-new vehicles to ensure that our vehicles are the highest possible quality for customers and we are taking every necessary action to ensure that the Aviator is built with the levels of quality and craftsmanship that our luxury customers expect,” she said."

 

ya BS!!!  Just admit this is another F'd up launch.  The PR spin that this is normal is utter BS unless they mean that the F up so many launches bow that yes this is standard procedure.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Gurgeh said:

I'm sure this will all get sorted. But all new line, built in record time, a new platform, and a 100-year plant in the midst of labor contract negotiations seem to have conspired to make this a particularly troubled vehicle launch. Not making any excuses, but this is why I typically wait until at least late in the year of a major redesign to purchase. I have two and a quarter years before my Nautilus lease is up, which should be enough time to get me to the second year after the Nautilus' upcoming redesign.

Sure sounds like you are making excuses.  I doubt those “reasons” you listed have anything to do with Ford’s ability to launch a new product.  This is a repetitive issue at multiple plants.  I agree though, this will get sorted out but doesn’t bode well for future launches that are just as important (Bronco, Mustang Mach E, etc).  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, 02MustangGT said:

Sure sounds like you are making excuses.  I doubt those “reasons” you listed have anything to do with Ford’s ability to launch a new product.  This is a repetitive issue at multiple plants.  I agree though, this will get sorted out but doesn’t bode well for future launches that are just as important (Bronco, Mustang Mach E, etc).  

 

Speaking solely on my experience with how the Ranger launch went, I don't think the Bronco launch will be bad at all. 

  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, 02MustangGT said:

Sure sounds like you are making excuses.  I doubt those “reasons” you listed have anything to do with Ford’s ability to launch a new product.  This is a repetitive issue at multiple plants.  I agree though, this will get sorted out but doesn’t bode well for future launches that are just as important (Bronco, Mustang Mach E, etc).  

 

How can you completely retool an old plant like that and not have some issues?   Has to be a factor along with the first vehicle on a brand new platform.   Those are most definitely reasons not excuses.   There are many things Ford could have done to mitigate these - mainly slow down the launch.   Had all these problems occured before job 1 we wouldn't even be hearing about it.   But once you start shipping vehicles the quality is expected to be very good.    Perhaps these specific issues point to other internal problems such as squeezing the suppliers too much but I'm not sure they'll change that.   That's the most disappointing part - they seem content to keep having these repeated issues without making changes to internal policies and processes.  Or if they are making changes they're not making the right ones.   

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So if retooling an old plant is a reason to produce a vehicle with quality issues, how do you explain the Escape launch recall?  I get it, not at significant as the issues with Ex/Av, but I’m sure there is more to come.  You only get so many passes for lack of quality, for Ford it’s becoming the norm for new product launches.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, 02MustangGT said:

So if retooling an old plant is a reason to produce a vehicle with quality issues, how do you explain the Escape launch recall?  I get it, not at significant as the issues with Ex/Av, but I’m sure there is more to come.  You only get so many passes for lack of quality, for Ford it’s becoming the norm for new product launches.  

 

Nobody is giving Ford a pass of any kind for their ongoing quality issues.   Nobody is saying it should be acceptable.  We've all pretty much said they need to do better.

However, these types of issues are generally fixed and done - they're not general lack of quality that causes old vehicles to fall apart.  They're generally engineering or manufacturing issues with specific parts.   It might piss off a few owners but in the overall scheme I don't think it hurts sales.   Which is probably why they continue having problems.

 

And like I said, retooling an old plant will cause problems - no way around it.   It's what Ford does to mitigate those problems that should be criticized.  My guess is they needed at least 2 months of test builds on the retooled line before even thinking about job 1.  But then you lose a couple of months of sales.   This is why QC should be completely separate from the bean counters and anyone else who gets rewarded on sales data.   They should demand a certain level of quality before progressing to the next phase and not be able to be overridden by the bean counters.   That's the only way to ensure quality IMO.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, akirby said:

It's what Ford does to mitigate those problems that should be criticized.  My guess is they needed at least 2 months of test builds on the retooled line before even thinking about job 1.  But then you lose a couple of months of sales.   This is why QC should be completely separate from the bean counters and anyone else who gets rewarded on sales data.   They should demand a certain level of quality before progressing to the next phase and not be able to be overridden by the bean counters.   That's the only way to ensure quality IMO.

Fair enough @akirby.  I completely agree with your thoughts here.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, 02MustangGT said:

So if retooling an old plant is a reason to produce a vehicle with quality issues, how do you explain the Escape launch recall?  I get it, not at significant as the issues with Ex/Av, but I’m sure there is more to come.  You only get so many passes for lack of quality, for Ford it’s becoming the norm for new product launches.  

 

Escape's recall was related to the same seat issue other products had, not an Escape-alone issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, akirby said:

 

they seem content to keep having these repeated issues without making changes to internal policies and processes.  Or if they are making changes they're not making the right ones.   

 

That cannot be correct - we've been told for some time now that Hackett has it going on, and is changing Ford and its ways for the better. Shouldn't this introduction be considered to be under his watch? What does it say about the "change" he claims to have made within the company and its processes?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, 02MustangGT said:

Sure sounds like you are making excuses.  I doubt those “reasons” you listed have anything to do with Ford’s ability to launch a new product.  This is a repetitive issue at multiple plants.  I agree though, this will get sorted out but doesn’t bode well for future launches that are just as important (Bronco, Mustang Mach E, etc).  

No reason to get snippy. I'm not making excuses but trying to give my best guess on what happened with Ford's screw up on the launch. Maybe they should have picked a newer facility. Maybe they shouldn't have rushed building the new production line so much. Maybe they should have spent a little more time testing the new platform. I thought that maybe the timing of the launch during labor negotiations had something to do with it, though I am not a Ford guy and have no knowledge on this. Fuzzy says this has nothing to do with the problems, and he should know, so on this I'm sure I was wrong in my musings. I agree with you that they need to do better, especially with rush of other new releases coming that are just as consequential as this one, if not more so.

Edited by Gurgeh
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Harley Lover said:

 

That cannot be correct - we've been told for some time now that Hackett has it going on, and is changing Ford and its ways for the better. Shouldn't this introduction be considered to be under his watch? What does it say about the "change" he claims to have made within the company and its processes?

 

He is changing a lot of things including the type of vehicles being produced and features/functionality.  But fuzzy has repeatedly reminded us that he has yet to address quality.  That doesn’t negate all the other stuff.  I think it’s a conscious decision to focus resources on other areas.  Whether that’s right or wrong depends on what Ford is getting from those resources and the long term impacts.  It is definitely frustrating and I wish they would put more effort into better quality.  But it’s also not the end of the world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, jasonj80 said:

When you constantly have MBAs and a finance department cutting product budgets, telling suppliers to lower costs, and say you must to do it cheaper, even when engineering says you will sacrifice quality. This is exactly the result. 

 

Exactly.  And that’s why Hackett would have to separate the QA folks and give them the ability to delay launches (and support those decisions).  That’s not rocket science so I have to think that Hackett doesn’t see these issues as a big enough problem to make a big change.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, snooter said:

So the guy who builds office furniture thought he could retool an automotive plant like he retros a plant that makes file cabinets...clearly they needed more yota engineers on the plant rebuild so it would be done right....

 

Last time I checked Hackett wasn’t driving the forklifts and it’s the same Ford team that successfully retooled not one but two F series plants in record time just a few years ago.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, akirby said:

 

Last time I checked Hackett wasn’t driving the forklifts and it’s the same Ford team that successfully retooled not one but two F series plants in record time just a few years ago.  

Ok now you are contradicting what you stated earlier:  “like I said, retooling an old plant will cause problems - no way around it”

 

The F-150 plant retools did not result in major product quality issues?  It’s kind of a rhetorical question.  Ford knows how to retool plants, there should be no decline in quality.   So now we have only the suppliers to blame right?   Face it, quality is no longer job 1 under Hackett. It’s been well documented.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, 02MustangGT said:

Face it, quality is no longer job 1 under Hackett. It’s been well documented.   

 

I challenge you to find one post here that indicates that someone thinks that quality is a priority for Ford or Hackett.  We’ve said repeatedly that it’s not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...