Forderorder Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 Posting this in the SuperDuty forum because this question is specific to KTP. I've seen conflicting comments about what it means if a sticker says CONVOY vs RAIL. In my head it seems pretty simple; if it says RAIL then the railroad will be involved, but if it says CONVOY then your vehicle will be picked up by a commercial truck from KTP and delivered by that truck to the destination dealership. Obviously there will still be commercial trucks involved with RAIL shipments because it's not like the train just pulls into a dealership to unload... Although it does look like the railroad goes right through KTP, as seen in this google maps photo. Some people have said that even if your sticker says CONVOY, your vehicle may just be loaded onto a truck at KTP and taken to a nearby railroad. Is this completely false? Why wouldn't it just be driven straight from KTP the 300 feet onto a rail car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackhawk23 Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineNut Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 2 hours ago, Forderorder said: In my head it seems pretty simple; if it says RAIL then the railroad will be involved, but if it says CONVOY then your vehicle will be picked up by a commercial truck from KTP and delivered by that truck to the destination dealership. Obviously there will still be commercial trucks involved with RAIL shipments because it's not like the train just pulls into a dealership to unload... Although it does look like the railroad goes right through KTP, as seen in this google maps photo. From what I've read the "Convoy" notation on the the window sticker is not a reliable indicator of shipping method. Some window stickers say Rail, some say Convoy. Your dealer can tell you how their vehicles are transported. Most trucks are shipped via rail to a regional hub and they are then transported over the road to your dealer. If the dealer is within a few hours of the plant they would ship via road. Also, I believe the photo you attached is of the Louisville Assembly Plant, not the Kentucky Truck Plant. Doesn't really matter in regards to your question as KTP has a large rail transport yard of it's own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forderorder Posted April 4, 2022 Author Share Posted April 4, 2022 26 minutes ago, PineNut said: Also, I believe the photo you attached is of the Louisville Assembly Plant, not the Kentucky Truck Plant. Doesn't really matter in regards to your question as KTP has a large rail transport yard of it's own. Good call, I did not realize the difference. Thanks! 26 minutes ago, PineNut said: From what I've read the "Convoy" notation on the the window sticker is not a reliable indicator of shipping method. Yeah, this is what I'm struggling with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blown32 Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 My sticker says convoy but I just got a status saying its at a rail yard so I'd say that its very likely unreliable info on the window sticker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
787Toolman Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 Mine says Rail, is currently at final destination ramp from CSX, but will get delivered via car carrier eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NM04Ford Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 Well I can tell you for a fact that convoy does not mean strictly by truck. My WS shows convoy and my dealer sent a copy of my VVR today and it's on a rail car currently. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forderorder Posted April 5, 2022 Author Share Posted April 5, 2022 8 hours ago, NM04Ford said: Well I can tell you for a fact that convoy does not mean strictly by truck. My WS shows convoy and my dealer sent a copy of my VVR today and it's on a rail car currently. This is helpful, but I wonder why they even bother to distinguish between rail and convoy on the sticker if it’s a crap shoot. It must mean something to someone… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 1 hour ago, Forderorder said: This is helpful, but I wonder why they even bother to distinguish between rail and convoy on the sticker if it’s a crap shoot. It must mean something to someone… it’s either a manual input error or a bug or some process change that the system never accommodated. Stop trying to put meaning to things that have no meaning. These systems are not only old, they were developed for internal use only. None of this (including the window sticker date) ever mattered so it wasn’t important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forderorder Posted April 5, 2022 Author Share Posted April 5, 2022 18 minutes ago, akirby said: it’s either a manual input error or a bug or some process change that the system never accommodated. Stop trying to put meaning to things that have no meaning. These systems are not only old, they were developed for internal use only. None of this (including the window sticker date) ever mattered so it wasn’t important. I'm impressed with how broken Ford's processes are, yet they still perform so well. Imagine what they could accomplish if they just took a bit of time to fix these small things! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 22 minutes ago, Forderorder said: I'm impressed with how broken Ford's processes are, yet they still perform so well. Imagine what they could accomplish if they just took a bit of time to fix these small things! They're not "broken" per se...just not meant for the general public to parse. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forderorder Posted April 5, 2022 Author Share Posted April 5, 2022 17 minutes ago, twintornados said: They're not "broken" per se...just not meant for the general public to parse. akirby said "a bug" "some process change that the system never accommodated" "none of this ever mattered so it wasn't important" I'd say those describe something that is broken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice-capades Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 24 minutes ago, Forderorder said: I'm impressed with how broken Ford's processes are, yet they still perform so well. Imagine what they could accomplish if they just took a bit of time to fix these small things! Ford's processes have been in place for many, many years and fundamentally have worked well for the most part. Unfortunately, these processes have in many cases been outdated and/or obsolete for years as related to today's standard for data updates and reporting, vehicle order status updates, vehicle tracking, integration across Ford systems, etc. There are simply too many examples to list! Ford's IT issues have been a disaster for years, if not decades. The CONCEPS system has existed for decades and includes many functions that are still in place and required. WBDO was launched many years ago but still doesn't include the functions to manage all types of vehicle orders, amendments, etc. Unfortunately, in corporate America, decisions and their implementation often get delayed by decision makers to ensure job security. What's best for either career advancement or the company and its customers is rarely a common objective. Due to the pandemic, supply chain issues and the tremendous increase in retail customer orders, Ford has had to rush changes to IT related issues to communicate information to the retail order customers. The current product is still lacking in many areas, inaccurate often and leaves customers asking questions that are left unanswered by Dealers that don't know, can't be bothered or simply ignorant. The situation is made worse by Dearborn executives that continue to introduce and mandate new processes requiring dealership compliance without having any knowledge of dealership operations, etc. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 1 hour ago, Forderorder said: akirby said "a bug" "some process change that the system never accommodated" "none of this ever mattered so it wasn't important" I'd say those describe something that is broken. You must be new to corporate IT. Just because something isn’t working properly doesn’t mean it needs to be fixed. Fixes aren’t usually free so you have to weigh the cost vs the impact of not fixing something. Especially with older systems. But here is the bigger driver - pre pandemic 95% of vehicles were dealer stock where tracking doesn’t really matter and the other 5% were generally built and delivered within 5-8 weeks. I’ve ordered at least 6 vehicles and never had to even ask for tracking. So what’s the incentive to update the tracking system in that scenario? Now BEVs and moving to more orders are changing that and I bet you’ll see a new tracking system developed with Google. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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