Ford Confirms Layoffs, Says It Is Cutting About 3,000 Jobs - WSJ

[j2sys 126]

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/22/ford-to-cut-3000-jobs-primarily-in-north-america.html
 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ford-confirms-layoffs-says-it-is-cutting-about-3-000-jobs-primarily-in-u-s-and-canada-11661180161
 

Here we go again…

Edited August 22, 2022 by j2sys

[G.W. 0]

Paywall..

[j2sys 126]

32 minutes ago, G.W. said:

Paywall..

CNBC: Ford to eliminate 3,000 jobs in an effort to cut costs

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/22/ford-to-cut-3000-jobs-primarily-in-north-america.html

Edited August 22, 2022 by j2sys

[dlghtjr90 59]

Because Ford will be replacing these folks with even more quality workers for less pay... probably not.

Eliminating folks who weren't being productive make perfect business sense, but layoffs are seldom done that intelligently.

 

Those who had the competency and skills likely saw the writing on the wall well before this and likely applying elsewhere or have moved already, making the damage greater than it is.

 

[rperez817 1,734]

27 minutes ago, dlghtjr90 said:

Those who had the competency and skills likely saw the writing on the wall well before this and likely applying elsewhere or have moved already, making the damage greater than it is.

 

In that case, wouldn't those who didn't see the writing on the wall be the ones that Ford needs to get rid of anyway?

[tbone 1,094]

2 hours ago, j2sys said:

CNBC: Ford to eliminate 3,000 jobs in an effort to cut costs

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/22/ford-to-cut-3000-jobs-primarily-in-north-america.html

Another way to cut cost would be to cut warranty costs by building a better product.  I would actually like them to start there first.  

[dlghtjr90 59]

1 hour ago, rperez817 said:

In that case, wouldn't those who didn't see the writing on the wall be the ones that Ford needs to get rid of anyway?

 

You need someone to develop the next line of cars lol. The bad apples might be out, but when the folks who carried the team/workload are also out, then it becomes an awkward situation to say the least for those still remaining.

[dlghtjr90 59]

36 minutes ago, tbone said:

Another way to cut cost would be to cut warranty costs by building a better product.  I would actually like them to start there first.  

 

This costs money though. /s

 

But yes, it could start with leadership who have an interest in long-term vision and fundamentally a culture problem.

[j2sys 126]

28 minutes ago, dlghtjr90 said:

 

This costs money though. /s

 

But yes, it could start with leadership who have an interest in long-term vision and fundamentally a culture problem.

 

Exactly.  It takes a holistic view instead of different teams that have competing interests.  Everyone wants to cut their own costs even if it adds costs to someone else.

 

No executive should be happy with the status quo when you could put more money into doing it right in the first place, rather than having to scramble to fix things (or fail altogether) later.  Put in the money to do it right the first time, spend less long term.  That's what Apple used to be known for.  Again, see the DCT saga...

[akirby 16,891]

58 minutes ago, j2sys said:

 

Exactly.  It takes a holistic view instead of different teams that have competing interests.  Everyone wants to cut their own costs even if it adds costs to someone else.

 

No executive should be happy with the status quo when you could put more money into doing it right in the first place, rather than having to scramble to fix things (or fail altogether) later.  Put in the money to do it right the first time, spend less long term.  That's what Apple used to be known for.  Again, see the DCT saga...

It all comes down to how painful and how expensive it is to deal with the problems.  Sometimes it’s a conscious decision not to fix something (like the focus DCT).  

[rperez817 1,734]

1 hour ago, dlghtjr90 said:

You need someone to develop the next line of cars lol. The bad apples might be out, but when the folks who carried the team/workload are also out, then it becomes an awkward situation to say the least for those still remaining.

 

Good points dlghtjr90. I think Jim Farley's strategy is to recruit new talent for Ford's Model e and Pro divisions from universities and from other industries. He has also successfully poached a couple high ranking people from Tesla and Apple. Model e and Pro divisions will handle practically all development of new technologies, products, and services at Ford Motor Company nowadays.

 

At the same time, Farley's strategy calls for job cuts in the company's legacy Blue division, which is characterized by an uncompetitive cost structure, dysfunctional culture, and too much complexity. It makes sense to address these issues ASAP before the Blue division is wound down over the remainder of the decade as Ford gets closer to its goal of an all-electric future. 

[j2sys 126]

24 minutes ago, akirby said:

It all comes down to how painful and how expensive it is to deal with the problems.  Sometimes it’s a conscious decision not to fix something (like the focus DCT).  

 

That's even worse, IMHO - when everyone knows that a product is defective yet it's forced onto the market anyway.  It's bad enough when they miss something, worse when they knew about it before the first production unit is built.  How much did they end up burning up on warranty claims, lawsuits, and customers driven away because they chose to sweep the internal concerns under the rug?

 

Anecdotally, I've had way too many people around me who had nothing but bad things to say about Ford after their DCT experiences.  They aren't returning customers.  They might think me a fool and they may be right - I ended up with 2 of those.  (Mind you, babying them in SelectShift seemed to keep them from going berserk.)

[rperez817 1,734]

45 minutes ago, j2sys said:

That's even worse, IMHO - when everyone knows that a product is defective yet it's forced onto the market anyway.  It's bad enough when they miss something, worse when they knew about it before the first production unit is built. 

 

Most definitely j2sys. Ford's company culture forced the engineers who knew that product (DPS6 transmission) was permanently defective to remain silent. Detroit Free Press wrote an excellent article about this in 2019. Quote below is from one such engineer Ford workers: Focus, Fiesta DPS6 transmission problems were ignored (freep.com)

 

We’d raise our hands and be told, ‘Don’t be naysayers.’ We got strange comments. It seemed the ship had sailed. After that, if you ask questions, you’re accused of mutiny, so you put your head down and make it work. Good people tried to make it work. But you can’t violate the laws of physics. It’s a mechanical catastrophe.

[akirby 16,891]

1 hour ago, j2sys said:

 

That's even worse, IMHO - when everyone knows that a product is defective yet it's forced onto the market anyway.  It's bad enough when they miss something, worse when they knew about it before the first production unit is built.  How much did they end up burning up on warranty claims, lawsuits, and customers driven away because they chose to sweep the internal concerns under the rug?

What made it even worse is they changed to a lighter version of the 6f35 in Europe but kept the DCT here after the problems were well known.  It had to either be some kind of contract issue or a major cafe issue for them to keep using it.

[dlghtjr90 59]

Unfortunately that's business for you sometimes. I mean, considering there is a certain automaker that sells a so-called Full Self Driving feature when it's just a Level 2 driver assist, there are a lot of fingers to point out ranging from the automaker doing something unethical to the silly customers who don't look into any further, etc. People have died from overestimating the capability of the feature and the company is happy to state that it is just an assist and the driver should've been paying attention so they only have themselves to blame, and this is still happening.

Edited August 22, 2022 by dlghtjr90

[Footballfan 264]

Ive seen how this story plays out many times over the years at Ford.  People are laid off, the remaining employees don't know WTF is going on and/or are working 14 hour days to do the work of those who were booted, once Ford realizes the competence that is needed to run a given area no longer exists they beg the people who they just gave a package to come back (usually at twice the pay) per diem to set things straight.  

 

This is a Wall Street move pure and simple.  

[jpd80 4,980]

9 hours ago, akirby said:

What made it even worse is they changed to a lighter version of the 6f35 in Europe but kept the DCT here after the problems were well known.  It had to either be some kind of contract issue or a major cafe issue for them to keep using it.

Ford US simply refused to change to 6F35, global made the switch to 1.5 EB + 6F35 in 2015, the transformation over 2.0 Powershift was amazing. I keep wondering if Ford had simply doubled down on 2.0 + 6AT from the beginning how much better Focus would have been…

[ExplorerDude 122]

A lot of the positions just eliminated were people whose teams were terminated in Jim Hackett’s smart redesign 3 years ago. These people had some 30-40 years at Ford and didn’t have much of a role the last 3 years. I think the pandemic gave them some time since many were out of sight out of mind.
 

Another large number of positions eliminated were field roles. Almost every region lost the PSOM role (Parts and Service Operations Manager) as well as seasoned Zone Managers.

 

Then the other chunk of positions were “fluff” roles. They eliminated a lot of social media positions and contractor positions.
 

Definitely was/is a sad time but it didn’t necessarily hit all ICE engineering. It was a mixture of cutting all over the place.

Edited August 23, 2022 by ExplorerDude

[fuzzymoomoo 7,552]

13 hours ago, akirby said:

What made it even worse is they changed to a lighter version of the 6f35 in Europe but kept the DCT here after the problems were well known.  It had to either be some kind of contract issue or a major cafe issue for them to keep using it.

If it's the latter then when can Ford sue the government for forcing them to stick with a defective product? 

[fuzzymoomoo 7,552]

3 hours ago, ExplorerDude said:

 

 

They eliminated a lot of social media positions 

Good. I've long believed that most corporations spend far too much on that nonsense and get nothing out of it. 

[akirby 16,891]

2 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

If it's the latter then when can Ford sue the government for forcing them to stick with a defective product? 

They weren’t forced to keep it.  If true it just means it would have been more expensive to replace it.

[akirby 16,891]

5 hours ago, ExplorerDude said:

A lot of the positions just eliminated were people whose teams were terminated in Jim Hackett’s smart redesign 3 years ago. These people had some 30-40 years at Ford and didn’t have much of a role the last 3 years. I think the pandemic gave them some time since many were out of sight out of mind.
 

Another large number of positions eliminated were field roles. Almost every region lost the PSOM role (Parts and Service Operations Manager) as well as seasoned Zone Managers.

 

Then the other chunk of positions were “fluff” roles. They eliminated a lot of social media positions and contractor positions.
 

Definitely was/is a sad time but it didn’t necessarily hit all ICE engineering. It was a mixture of cutting all over the place.

That’s the right kind of layoffs as opposed to everyone getting a haircut (10% off the top).  Sad but often necessary as you make product and technology pivots.

[fuzzymoomoo 7,552]

59 minutes ago, akirby said:

They weren’t forced to keep it.  If true it just means it would have been more expensive to replace it.

Which means the governmental policy is the reason for it being that prohibitively expensive and therefore the government should be liable. 

[rperez817 1,734]

1 hour ago, akirby said:

That’s the right kind of layoffs as opposed to everyone getting a haircut (10% off the top). 

 

Jim Farley, like Jim Hackett before him, is very focused on ensuring Ford has the right talent for the "new world" of the automotive industry, while at the same time getting out of the "old world".

 

It would be nice if Ford brought back Jacques Nasser's policy mandating that every year, the lowest performing 10% of managers be subject to termination. Maybe even increase that number to the bottom 20%. That kind of turnover may help Ford achieve the culture change it desperately needs.

[fuzzymoomoo 7,552]

25 minutes ago, rperez817 said:

It would be nice if Ford brought back Jacques Nasser's policy mandating that every year, the lowest performing 10% of managers be subject to termination. Maybe even increase that number to the bottom 20%. That kind of turnover may help Ford achieve the culture change it desperately needs.

That's a great way to create a toxic environment wrought with backstabbing, buck passing, and paranoia.