Ford's Bold Move
As I've mentioned before, the state of the American automotive industry is something I am very passionate about. Fifty years of management failure are coming home to roost and the American consumer is going to be the beneficiary as are the remaining workers at Ford, GM and DaimlerChrysler. Unfortunately, not so for the millions who have lost their jobs over the last fifty years.
As you may have read, Bill Ford has pulled another bold move. Ford was acting CEO, Chairman and President for a $200 billion company in crisis. This is a feat no single human is capable of fulfilling. At least one who is honest with himself or herself.
I don know anything about Alan Mulally the new CEO of Ford but what I read. No one person is going to turn around Ford but this move makes alot of sense to me. It appears his positive credentials can be summarized by a top ten list as follows:
1)He's an outsider in an insular industry and that means new ideas and a clear perspective
2)He's got a very strong operational and manufacturing background using lean techniques copied from Japan and the best of American manufacturers
3)He's been through many major turnarounds after devastating blows to Boeing's commercial aircraft business
4)He made Boeing a global R&D and manufacturing powerhouse by taking advantage of a worldwide team capable of working around the clock to shrink development times: This is something Ford really needs to hone with tremendous engineering and design talent on every continent
5)He has a belief that American manufacturing and design excellence is achievable and he delivered it at Boeing. We know it is possible because Caterpillar, Honda, Siemens, IBM, Intel, Deere, Toyota and others excel at it. And America still is the manufacturing leader globally by a large spread.
6)He appears to be a compassionate "people person" who still has the ability to make tough decisions when necessary as well as very well respected by the employee team at Boeing: Leadership with the respect of its employees is extremely important in any turnaround
7)He knows how to deal with low morale and the motivational issues of a company in crisis
8)He has experience dealing with a unionized workforce through a turnaround in a win-win fashion and nothing positive will come at Ford without shared responsibility with the UAW
9)He believes strongly in product development's role in a turnaround and so does the Ford team
10)He accomplished the turnaround at Boeing by engaging the customer in the design process and does Ford need that more than words can possibly say
I can't see anything but goodness in this appointment. It brings outside talent into the executive ranks and a seasoned leader with a track record of success. I would have thought maybe someone from a consumer products background might be interesting but good things don't always come in one package. ie, I expect more of the same with additional outside hires. I believe you've got to give Bill Ford some serious credit here. This decision helps proves Bill Ford has the right stuff. He's acknowledged Ford is in crisis publicly, he's acknowledged they lost touch with their customer, he's hired outside talent thus admitting he doesn't have all of the answers, he put aside his ego to bring in that talent and he has publicly announced a turnaround plan open to scrutiny. There will be alot of criticism and second guessing by outsiders and Wall Street analysts but frankly none of them have ever accomplished any of the bullets I've included above so what the hell do they know anyway? Seriously? GE's Immelt gave Mulally the highest praise of any person Ford interviewed. Immelt is one hell of a CEO.
GM? Their CEO did the same thing when he brought in Bob Lutz as Vice-Chairman. Leadership which admits they need strong complementary talent to help them steer the ship is generally a good sign in my book. Less of a God complex and more interested in doing what is right. GM is moving positively in the right direction but I still have questions as to whether the right CEO is running the company. There surely doesn't seem to be the sense of urgency at GM there is at Ford and the lack of a publicly announced turnaround plan means there is no way to measure GM's progress nor is there any external pressure exerted in earnest because of it. In any event, the sense of urgency at Ford continues to gain traction. Next comes the quickened pace of a revised turnaround plan to be submitted to the board on September 14th.
Update: GM Extends 2007 Model Warranties to 100,000 Miles
GM, the world's largest automaker, will extend warranties to 100,000 miles on 2007 cars and trucks as part of a plan to tout quality and win back buyers lost to Toyota Motor Corp. and other rivals.
The new warranty on engines and other powertrain parts is an increase from the current 36,000 miles, Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said today in Detroit. It also will apply to 2007 models already sold, he said.
Desperate times sometimes require desperate measures. Expect Ford and DaimlerChrysler to match this program. This won't hurt Toyota or Honda but it might hurt Nissan because their quality has been sorely lacking in recent years.
As you may have read, Bill Ford has pulled another bold move. Ford was acting CEO, Chairman and President for a $200 billion company in crisis. This is a feat no single human is capable of fulfilling. At least one who is honest with himself or herself.
I don know anything about Alan Mulally the new CEO of Ford but what I read. No one person is going to turn around Ford but this move makes alot of sense to me. It appears his positive credentials can be summarized by a top ten list as follows:
1)He's an outsider in an insular industry and that means new ideas and a clear perspective
2)He's got a very strong operational and manufacturing background using lean techniques copied from Japan and the best of American manufacturers
3)He's been through many major turnarounds after devastating blows to Boeing's commercial aircraft business
4)He made Boeing a global R&D and manufacturing powerhouse by taking advantage of a worldwide team capable of working around the clock to shrink development times: This is something Ford really needs to hone with tremendous engineering and design talent on every continent
5)He has a belief that American manufacturing and design excellence is achievable and he delivered it at Boeing. We know it is possible because Caterpillar, Honda, Siemens, IBM, Intel, Deere, Toyota and others excel at it. And America still is the manufacturing leader globally by a large spread.
6)He appears to be a compassionate "people person" who still has the ability to make tough decisions when necessary as well as very well respected by the employee team at Boeing: Leadership with the respect of its employees is extremely important in any turnaround
7)He knows how to deal with low morale and the motivational issues of a company in crisis
8)He has experience dealing with a unionized workforce through a turnaround in a win-win fashion and nothing positive will come at Ford without shared responsibility with the UAW
9)He believes strongly in product development's role in a turnaround and so does the Ford team
10)He accomplished the turnaround at Boeing by engaging the customer in the design process and does Ford need that more than words can possibly say
I can't see anything but goodness in this appointment. It brings outside talent into the executive ranks and a seasoned leader with a track record of success. I would have thought maybe someone from a consumer products background might be interesting but good things don't always come in one package. ie, I expect more of the same with additional outside hires. I believe you've got to give Bill Ford some serious credit here. This decision helps proves Bill Ford has the right stuff. He's acknowledged Ford is in crisis publicly, he's acknowledged they lost touch with their customer, he's hired outside talent thus admitting he doesn't have all of the answers, he put aside his ego to bring in that talent and he has publicly announced a turnaround plan open to scrutiny. There will be alot of criticism and second guessing by outsiders and Wall Street analysts but frankly none of them have ever accomplished any of the bullets I've included above so what the hell do they know anyway? Seriously? GE's Immelt gave Mulally the highest praise of any person Ford interviewed. Immelt is one hell of a CEO.
GM? Their CEO did the same thing when he brought in Bob Lutz as Vice-Chairman. Leadership which admits they need strong complementary talent to help them steer the ship is generally a good sign in my book. Less of a God complex and more interested in doing what is right. GM is moving positively in the right direction but I still have questions as to whether the right CEO is running the company. There surely doesn't seem to be the sense of urgency at GM there is at Ford and the lack of a publicly announced turnaround plan means there is no way to measure GM's progress nor is there any external pressure exerted in earnest because of it. In any event, the sense of urgency at Ford continues to gain traction. Next comes the quickened pace of a revised turnaround plan to be submitted to the board on September 14th.
Update: GM Extends 2007 Model Warranties to 100,000 Miles
GM, the world's largest automaker, will extend warranties to 100,000 miles on 2007 cars and trucks as part of a plan to tout quality and win back buyers lost to Toyota Motor Corp. and other rivals.
The new warranty on engines and other powertrain parts is an increase from the current 36,000 miles, Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said today in Detroit. It also will apply to 2007 models already sold, he said.
Desperate times sometimes require desperate measures. Expect Ford and DaimlerChrysler to match this program. This won't hurt Toyota or Honda but it might hurt Nissan because their quality has been sorely lacking in recent years.
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