twintornados Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Looks like in the grand tradition at FoMoCo...Joe Hinrichs will "retire" and leave the company, new COO is Jim Farley....things that make you go, "hmmmmm..." https://www.wsj.com/articles/ford-to-name-strategy-chief-jim-farley-new-chief-operating-officer-11581082467 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
probowler Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 I don't know enough about hinrichs and Farley to know if this is good or not... I know the business has been rough but It does seem like odd timing. Why now right before the fruits of the rebuild are realized? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailhiker Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Just now, probowler said: I don't know enough about hinrichs and Farley to know if this is good or not... I know the business has been rough but It does seem like odd timing. Why now right before the fruits of the rebuild are realized? The reason to do this now, is that there are other extremely important launches coming in the next couple years. Ford can not afford a repeat of the Explorer launch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackinaw Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Can't say I'm surprised. Read Hinrich's Position Description, he was in charge of vehicle launches. He totally messed up the Explorer launch. Big time. He's paying the price for not doing his job. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Didn't Fields try to get rid of Hinrich right before he was fired? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harley Lover Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 (edited) 12 minutes ago, akirby said: Didn't Fields try to get rid of Hinrich right before he was fired? Yes, at the time it appeared that Hinrichs was chosen ahead of Fields. Edited February 7, 2020 by Harley Lover Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted February 7, 2020 Author Share Posted February 7, 2020 (edited) 13 minutes ago, akirby said: Didn't Fields try to get rid of Hinrich right before he was fired "retired"? Fixed....lol Edited February 7, 2020 by twintornados 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 43 minutes ago, akirby said: Didn't Fields try to get rid of Hinrich right before he was fired? Yes but it was for ridiculous reasoning. He thought Joe was trying to usurp him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcartwright99 Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Message from the top: If you fail in spectacular fashion for something you are in charge of, you are accountable. That accountability comes in a we are pushing you out with a nice severance package and retirement benefits. So he won't be hurting financially. This is the pound of flesh that people were looking for in the Explorer debacle. Can someone verify that Chicago also got a new plant manager recently? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 5 minutes ago, jcartwright99 said: Message from the top: If you fail in spectacular fashion for something you are in charge of, you are accountable. That accountability comes in a we are pushing you out with a nice severance package and retirement benefits. So he won't be hurting financially. This is the pound of flesh that people were looking for in the Explorer debacle. Can someone verify that Chicago also got a new plant manager recently? I have to say I can't disagree with this- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 10 minutes ago, jcartwright99 said: . Can someone verify that Chicago also got a new plant manager recently? I read somewhere that the FRAP mgr moved to CAP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
351cid Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 6 minutes ago, silvrsvt said: I have to say I can't disagree with this- My comments to friends was that, although I'm not convinced he is entirely the issue, this is a start & better than not doing anything. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 29 minutes ago, 351cid said: My comments to friends was that, although I'm not convinced he is entirely the issue, this is a start & better than not doing anything. Exactly, its showing that even though it might not have been entirely your problem, people are going to be held accountable for it no matter what. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackinaw Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Just read that Hackett says the rocky Explorer launch was not why Joe "retired." Hackett says the entire management team is responsible for the problematic Explorer launch. Still, you don't "retire" somebody if they're doing their job. Something else is likely going on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 1 hour ago, akirby said: I read somewhere that the FRAP mgr moved to CAP. Decker posted about it in the employee forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 4 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said: Decker posted about it in the employee forum That was probably it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 17 minutes ago, mackinaw said: Just read that Hackett says the rocky Explorer launch was not why Joe "retired." Hackett says the entire management team is responsible for the problematic Explorer launch. Still, you don't "retire" somebody if they're doing their job. Something else is likely going on. Sometimes they say different things publicly vs. privately. If they're not saying this privately they're losing a really good teaching moment about holding people accountable for mistakes. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Rosadini Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 3 hours ago, twintornados said: Looks like in the grand tradition at FoMoCo...Joe Hinrichs will "retire" and leave the company, new COO is Jim Farley....things that make you go, "hmmmmm..." https://www.wsj.com/articles/ford-to-name-strategy-chief-jim-farley-new-chief-operating-officer-11581082467 "Hmnnn" is right IMO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackinaw Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 30 minutes ago, akirby said: Sometimes they say different things publicly vs. privately. If they're not saying this privately they're losing a really good teaching moment about holding people accountable for mistakes. Oh yeah. Publicly, Hackett is all nicey nice. Privately, I suspect they had a totally different discussion. Even Bill Ford had nice things to say about Mark Fields when Fields "retired." In reality, the Ford and Fields weren't talking to each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 They need to show stockholders that they are holding people accountable. A sacrificial lamb if you will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Rosadini Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 1 hour ago, mackinaw said: Just read that Hackett says the rocky Explorer launch was not why Joe "retired." Hackett says the entire management team is responsible for the problematic Explorer launch. Still, you don't "retire" somebody if they're doing their job. Something else is likely going on. 46 minutes ago, akirby said: Sometimes they say different things publicly vs. privately. If they're not saying this privately they're losing a really good teaching moment about holding people accountable for mistakes. Well wasn't that nice of Hackett to bring the entire "team" in for the blame. I hope he included himself in that. How did the F-15O conversion go when they went to aluminum? Seems like that went fairly well and that was as difficult I would think as the Explorer launch. What was different? Well Hackett wasn't at the top then. And just maybe the focus wasn't on..."just get it done" but rather .."Let's get this right". How about it you Ford inside guys? Any validity to that? I have to say I wasn't at all surprised at this move, but to me it raises a lot of questions. Who set up the structure giving Hinrichs such a broad span of control? I know that flat organization charts are the norm today but was that part of the problem? And Farley? If I recall Bill Ford couldn't wait to hire him from Toyota as he was the best marketing guy in the world when it came to cars. Well we know how successful Ford has been selling cars. And now, Farley is the best thing since canned beer. So we have a non engineer at the top, and a non engineer in the next slot responsible for such things as building vehicles. Could get interesting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 **cue Peter de Lorenzo's doom and gloom Ford article rehashing his absolute hatred for Jim Farley in 3-2-1......... 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 42 minutes ago, Bob Rosadini said: How did the F-15O conversion go when they went to aluminum? Seems like that went fairly well and that was as difficult I would think as the Explorer launch. What was different? Different plants. Even though the whole plant was retooled and the body changed to aluminum, the basic platform wasn't changed much. But probably the biggest difference is they had two plants so production continued at one plant while the other one was retooled and vice versa. So they could take a little extra time if needed. By contrast once they started the conversion Explorer production was 0 so there was far more pressure to get it up and running quickly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PREMiERdrum Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Joe sold everyone on the plans for Chicago and eventually got his way based on his confidence it would work. It didn't, and one of the company's 3 most important nameplates has suffered at a time when it should be thriving. From what I can tell, we're going to see a slow (24 month-ish) transition of duties from Hackett to Farley. I was *not* in favor of putting Farley on top last time he was being considered, but he has done a ton of growing and maturing in the interim. He's a great fit to really shape the aggressive future path of the company that Bill is insisting on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackinaw Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 7 minutes ago, PREMiERdrum said: From what I can tell, we're going to see a slow (24 month-ish) transition of duties from Hackett to Farley. I was *not* in favor of putting Farley on top last time he was being considered, but he has done a ton of growing and maturing in the interim. He's a great fit to really shape the aggressive future path of the company that Bill is insisting on. John McElroy or Autoline Daily speculates that Hackett may leave later this year. He turns 65 in April which is Ford's mandatory retirement age, (unless the Board grants an extension). Your 24 month timeline makes more sense to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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