Joe Hinrichs "out" in leadership shakeup at Ford.

[passis]

COO, no?

[theoldwizard]

22 hours ago, mackinaw said:

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.

You can read it that way.  You could also read it that

• Subordinates were not giving him the truth about launch readiness
• Superiors over-rode his warnings about launch readiness and then forced scheduled launches anyway

Hinrich was well respected in the industry press, unlike Farley.  The group of middle level management retirees that I exchange mail with have already given Farley a "vote of no confidence" based on his total lack of experience in vehicle launches.

[theoldwizard]

17 hours ago, mackinaw said:

 

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.

Either way, Bill need to start looking for a new CEO.  You could say that Farley's new job is a test to see if he is "up to the challenge" !

 

Hinrichs retirement could be self-imposed.  Maybe he did not like what he saw coming and decide to bail before the "sh!t hits the fan" !  Related to that statement, a father of a friend of a friend is high up in Ford management (one step below VP ?).  He can't wait until he finishes his current "contract" (about 1 year) and can retire.  He has already told his bosses not to bother with offering a promotion (likely to VP), he wants to retire.

[fuzzymoomoo]

4 hours ago, SteelyD said:

https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/ford-top-automotive-executive-retires-in-managem

 

Farley is the new CEO.

 

No, he's the now COO

[Bob Rosadini]

12 hours ago, Nickp said:

I just think it’s funny that most of the doubters think Ford’s solution was to keep making sedans.

 

When was the last time Ford generated a significant amount of profit from a sedan?

Well I for one don't think it should have been an "all or nothing" decision.   As big as Ford is, I would have thought that a product mix would be beneficial given the fickle nature of the market.  What's hot today is old news tomorrow-at least as I see it.  

[Bob Rosadini]

3 hours ago, theoldwizard said:

You can read it that way.  You could also read it that

• Subordinates were not giving him the truth about launch readiness
• Superiors over-rode his warnings about launch readiness and then forced scheduled launches anyway

Hinrich was well respected in the industry press, unlike Farley.  The group of middle level management retirees that I exchange mail with have already given Farley a "vote of no confidence" based on his total lack of experience in vehicle launches.

IMO this speaks volumes.  I place great value on what others with some gray hair think. 

 

 And as I and others ("Kyle"?) in other threads have suggested, think of it-two guys at the top who  are not engineers.  We are not talking about office furniture here.  And if in fact Hinrich was the guy in charge of the Explorer launch, he deserved his share of the blame-and he obviously got it all.   But where was his boss?  Obviously on the same floor?  If it was so crucial, and difficult given total plant gutting and set up of a completely different product, shouldn't Hackett's level of oversight been raised??  

 

My guess is he was too busy coming up with new buzz words.

 

[akirby]

32 minutes ago, Bob Rosadini said:

Well I for one don't think it should have been an "all or nothing" decision.   As big as Ford is, I would have thought that a product mix would be beneficial given the fickle nature of the market.  What's hot today is old news tomorrow-at least as I see it.  

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, they don’t have the resources to keep building and selling cars and get all the new stuff out the door at the same time.

 

After both Mexico plants get converted to C2 it won’t be difficult to bring back Focus or Fusion if the market dictates that.  It’s a timing/resource prioritization issue.  They’re still making focus and Mondeo overseas.

[fordmantpw]

With Ford's history of up and down and not being able to keep things on the right track over the past, what, 40+ (or longer) years, I'm OK with not having an engineer at the top, as well as folks who aren't lifers at Ford who have learned to work the way it's always been done.  I think it's time for a change that they can hopefully make stick.  Engineers are good at engineering things, but they aren't necessarily the best at getting teams to work together for the best of the company.  You don't have to have an engineering degree to do that.

 

Signed,

An Engineer

[akirby]

25 minutes ago, Bob Rosadini said:

IMO this speaks volumes.  I place great value on what others with some gray hair think. 

 

 And as I and others ("Kyle"?) in other threads have suggested, think of it-two guys at the top who  are not engineers.  We are not talking about office furniture here.  And if in fact Hinrich was the guy in charge of the Explorer launch, he deserved his share of the blame-and he obviously got it all.   But where was his boss?  Obviously on the same floor?  If it was so crucial, and difficult given total plant gutting and set up of a completely different product, shouldn't Hackett's level of oversight been raised??  

 

My guess is he was too busy coming up with new buzz words.

 

You don’t need or want an engineer making business decisions.  You want someone who listens to the engineers and allows them to do their jobs.  By all accounts he did that with Bronco and the results are going to be mind blowing.

 

Ultimately Hinrichs had to personally sign off on the Explorer launch plan which turned out to be too aggressive.  Either he pushed for the aggressive plan or he didn’t push back on it enough.  As President it was his job to manage it.

[fuzzymoomoo]

25 minutes ago, fordmantpw said:

With Ford's history of up and down and not being able to keep things on the right track over the past, what, 40+ (or longer) years, I'm OK with not having an engineer at the top, as well as folks who aren't lifers at Ford who have learned to work the way it's always been done.  I think it's time for a change that they can hopefully make stick.  Engineers are good at engineering things, but they aren't necessarily the best at getting teams to work together for the best of the company.  You don't have to have an engineering degree to do that.

 

Signed,

An Engineer

Damn man, why did you have to say you're an engineer? I can't like you out of principle now! ?

[mackinaw]

Automotive News has a copy of the letter Hinrichs sent his team.  Well worth the read.  No subscription required.  Part of it:

 

We worked through a very difficult and costly launch of the Explorer and Aviator in Chicago. We then successfully launched Escape/Corsair in Louisville, Transit in Kansas City, Super Duty in Kentucky Truck Plant and OHAP, Puma in Craiova, Territory BEV in Nanchang, and recently Kuga (Valencia) and Escape (Chongqing). The painful lessons learned from the Explorer/Aviator launch will serve the company well in the future – including this year when you will launch so many great new products and really start to introduce the power of connected vehicles with the F-150 and Mustang Mach-E launches.

 

https://www.autonews.com/executives/hinrichs-goodbye-letter-ford-team-leadership-about-service

[jpd80]

56 minutes ago, akirby said:

You don’t need or want an engineer making business decisions.  You want someone who listens to the engineers and allows them to do their jobs.  By all accounts he did that with Bronco and the results are going to be mind blowing.

Hackett has stepped in a few times and told teams to make vehicles more desirable, he and Farley had BEV C-Max changed into MME,

that's the kind of calls senior executives must do if products are inappropriate for changing market preferences.

 

56 minutes ago, akirby said:

Ultimately Hinrichs had to personally sign off on the Explorer launch plan which turned out to be too aggressive.  Either he pushed for the aggressive plan or he didn’t push back on it enough.  As President it was his job to manage it.

Exactly, the buck stops at him and he makes the call on how launches proceed,

they weren't prepared to start off slow with  new Explorer and paid the price.

[fordmantpw]

1 hour ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

Damn man, why did you have to say you're an engineer? I can't like you out of principle now! ?

 

LOL! Well, technically, I'm an engineer by degree, but software developer by trade.  Wait, my title is Software Engineer, so I guess that does make me an engineer.  Dammit!  Please don't hate me!

[jpd80]

1 hour ago, fordmantpw said:

 

LOL! Well, technically, I'm an engineer by degree, but software developer by trade.  Wait, my title is Software Engineer, so I guess that does make me an engineer.  Dammit!  Please don't hate me!

I'm sorry but the growth area is now Vaporware Engineer

[fuzzymoomoo]

1 hour ago, fordmantpw said:

 

LOL! Well, technically, I'm an engineer by degree, but software developer by trade.  Wait, my title is Software Engineer, so I guess that does make me an engineer.  Dammit!  Please don't hate me!

I can't hate you. You’re one of the few I know that has any common sense. 

[fordmantpw]

28 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

I can't hate you. You’re one of the few I know that has any common sense. 

 

Ha ha...you should have gone to school with them!  Like the time I came back to the apartment to find my room mate making toast in the oven.  He didn't think of using the toaster.  ?  The dude is probably the smartest person I've even met, but wow.  Don't get me started on the room mate before him...

 

I credit the common sense to growing up in the sticks.  It seems more common to us country folk.

[fuzzymoomoo]

1 hour ago, fordmantpw said:

 

Ha ha...you should have gone to school with them!  Like the time I came back to the apartment to find my room mate making toast in the oven.  He didn't think of using the toaster.  ?  The dude is probably the smartest person I've even met, but wow.  Don't get me started on the room mate before him...

 

I credit the common sense to growing up in the sticks.  It seems more common to us country folk.

Someone I follow on Twitter was lamenting they didn't have a toaster today. I pointed out that if you have a skillet or griddle, you have a toaster. Some people ?

[jpd80]

1 minute ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

Someone I follow on Twitter was lamenting they didn't have a toaster today. I pointed out that if you have a skillet or griddle, you have a toaster. Some people ?

Imagining a can of beans and loaf of bread,

normally Darwin’s theory would kick in......

[akirby]

2 hours ago, fordmantpw said:

 

Ha ha...you should have gone to school with them!  Like the time I came back to the apartment to find my room mate making toast in the oven.  He didn't think of using the toaster.  ?  The dude is probably the smartest person I've even met, but wow.  Don't get me started on the room mate before him...

 

I credit the common sense to growing up in the sticks.  It seems more common to us country folk.

I grew up with toast made under the broiler with butter already on it.  Only way to make cheese toast or cinnamon sugar toast.

 

Thats why I always put butter on my toast and then jelly.  Wife does either or but never both.  Opposites attract I guess.

[CurtisH]

5 hours ago, akirby said:

I grew up with toast made under the broiler with butter already on it.

That is the best way to make toast. ?

[SoonerLS]

6 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

Someone I follow on Twitter was lamenting they didn't have a toaster today. I pointed out that if you have a skillet or griddle, you have a toaster. Some people ?

Elwood only needs a hot plate and a wire hanger to make dry white toast...

[kyle]

19 hours ago, akirby said:

You don’t need or want an engineer making business decisions.  You want someone who listens to the engineers and allows them to do their jobs.  By all accounts he did that with Bronco and the results are going to be mind blowing.

 

Ultimately Hinrichs had to personally sign off on the Explorer launch plan which turned out to be too aggressive.  Either he pushed for the aggressive plan or he didn’t push back on it enough.  As President it was his job to manage it.

 

Not sure you can blame Hinrichs for the Explorer debacle and give Hackett credit on a vehicle that is not even out yet (even though I think the Bronco will be a hit).

 

No you don't need an engineer at the top spot, nor do you want a bunch of marketing/sales guys at the top. I'm not convinced you broom Hinrich's out the door because the Explorer was a fuck up. If the Explorer was going great, half of the people on this board would be signing the praises of Hackett since his hand prints are all over this vehicle. We don't know who ultimately is to blame and can only speculate, but I as a sales guy want stuff out now, and have the mindset that the engineers will figure it out. 

 

I don't know if there are any current CEO's/Presidents in the automotive world who don't come from an engineering background, but hopefully Hackett is entrenced into the engineers/operations as we hope he is (and I think he is to a certain extent-but think he is by far his own worst enemy by living in a parallel world where no one knows what the fuck the guy is thinking). 

 

Maybe 10 years ago, you could of looked over at the senior leadership of GM and compared to Ford, they definitely felt like they had a short bench. Now, looking at things, the polar opposite is the case-at least to me. 

[fordmantpw]

23 hours ago, akirby said:

I grew up with toast made under the broiler with butter already on it.  Only way to make cheese toast or cinnamon sugar toast.

 

Thats why I always put butter on my toast and then jelly.  Wife does either or but never both.  Opposites attract I guess.

 

Cinnamon sugar toast is the best...I had that for breakfast many times as a kid!  Mine was always made in the toaster, though.  Besides, it's easier to smear toast than it is bread.  My wife always puts butter on before jelly, but I can take it or leave it.  Since I have to be dairy free now, I rarely have butter on my toast at all.  The fake butter just isn't worth it.

 

17 hours ago, CurtisH said:

That is the best way to make toast. ?

 

Agreed, but this had no butter, and he didn't realize he could use the toaster.  I did also tape his light switch down once since he could never remember to turn his light off.   20+ years later, we can laugh about it.  

[Happy european guy]

The first casualty of the Explorer debacle. I said it, the failed Explorer launch was a very important factor in the dismal financial results. Hau Thai Tang: " CEO Jim Hackett that has taken on additional urgency in the wake of a poor financial performance in the fourth quarter. Much of the hit came from a poor launch of the new Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator at the Chicago Assembly Plant."

 

The next casualty maybe (must be, IMO) Hackett.   Bill must be looking for a new CEO right now.

[fordmantpw]

2 hours ago, falconlover 1 said:

The first casualty of the Explorer debacle. I said it, the failed Explorer launch was a very important factor in the dismal financial results. Hau Thai Tang: " CEO Jim Hackett that has taken on additional urgency in the wake of a poor financial performance in the fourth quarter. Much of the hit came from a poor launch of the new Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator at the Chicago Assembly Plant."

 

The next casualty maybe (must be, IMO) Hackett.   Bill must be looking for a new CEO right now.

 

Yep, let's throw the baby out with the bathwater! ?