MadMax
02-08-2003, 07:29 AM
Some facts of life....and the state of affairs for "hot rods" in general....
From a relative in Detroit....
Perception is everything. It does not matter if it is accurate or not. A woman dresses in a style that maybe sexy or titillating and she can be looked on as a $lut or a whore. Bolt a few performance goodies on you car and you are a hot rodder and abusing your vehicle. Drive a big RED TRUCK with some chrome wheels and you tempt the Cops every time your out. Your buddy told you right that the next generation "power PC" has no port for a "chip" . I think that is great. Warranty expense is killing Ford Motor Company. They have mandated that they want to cut that expense by 50% in 2003. How do you make that goal? You sure as heck cannot design it into the product as they are already in the field. What you do right now is start to scrutinizing the warranty claims. Do you think that "Joe Dickweed" deserves a new motor after he blows the rod and piston out the side of the block while using a 150 shot of Nitrous. What is really bad is that many of the L crowd post at a site like F150 Online bragging about the exploits on the street and the strip. They state how they will remove all of this crap from there vehicle and tell the dealer that they were just driving away from the stop sign and the motor let go. What many of these "Bozo's do not know is that the SVT guys on the hot lines watch the message board and they know most of the characters. Over two years ago I use to go see the Hot line guys after work and it was good for a laugh all the stories they would tell me and the screen names that went with the tales.
I add something for you to read.
DEARBORN, Mich., Feb. 7, 2003 (FCN) -- Ford executives recently participated in a Global Leadership Meeting in Dearborn to discuss the state of the company moving forward into 2003.
While senior executives acknowledged that great progress was made in 2002 trimming costs, improving quality and rebuilding critical business and employee relationships, Ford Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Ford emphasized that the intensity of these efforts must increase in 2003 and employees must pursue change with an increased sense of urgency.
"The strategic elements of the plan certainly haven't changed: building great products, improving quality, lowering costs. These are still the hallmarks as we go forward," Ford said. "But what concerns us as a management group is when you look beyond '03. To put it very bluntly, as well as we're doing we're not moving fast enough."
Although Ford is on track to reach its target of a $7 billion profit by mid-decade, that number will only keep the company "in the game," Ford stressed. "It doesn't make us winners, and we've got to do better than that."
Ford's Revitalization priorities -- rebuilding the product pipeline, improving quality, reducing costs and rebuilding relationships -- were the right ones to lead the company forward, executives noted. Efforts to achieve these priorities must be executed and accelerated by dismantling functional chimneys and bureaucracy, they said. And teamwork and personal accountability are critical to these efforts, they stressed.
"Doing things differently isn't easy, especially at Ford," Ford acknowledged. "When you disturb the status quo, you certainly can count on some resistance, and you need to take risks both personally and professionally. My question to all of you is what are you waiting for?"
Indeed, employees shouldn't wait before helping Ford push its recovery operation to a new level, said Nick Scheele, president and chief operating officer. Consolidation, takeovers and bankruptcies in the industry are still taking place and for the first time in his memory, some industry observers think that Ford might be one of the casualties, in one form or another.
"None of us here obviously think that but I think it really has to get our attention that there are others -- sober analysts of our industry -- who no longer believe that it is completely impossible," Scheele said.
Scheele noted that Ford has been pushed off course by a variety of factors, key among them growing competitive pressures. Ford has a substantial cost disadvantage per vehicle versus other manufacturers in both North America and Europe. The hyper competitive vehicle manufacturing environment that has emerged has surprised even Ford's senior management team, he said.
"It would be hard to overestimate the importance of this year to the Ford Motor Company," Scheele said. "2003 is truly a pivotal year. We are going to dramatically accelerate the pace of improvement in our initial revitalization plan to reduce costs and improve the business structure."
Quality is central to the long-term viability of Ford, Scheele added, and it is vital that the company continue to improve its performance in this area. Similarly, Ford cannot lose sight of the fact that the industry ebbs and flows around product.
"Getting the business structure right ultimately will have tremendous positive impact on our products, but we cannot wait for that and we certainly can't take short-term actions on cost that harm our long-term product capability," said Scheele.
From a relative in Detroit....
Perception is everything. It does not matter if it is accurate or not. A woman dresses in a style that maybe sexy or titillating and she can be looked on as a $lut or a whore. Bolt a few performance goodies on you car and you are a hot rodder and abusing your vehicle. Drive a big RED TRUCK with some chrome wheels and you tempt the Cops every time your out. Your buddy told you right that the next generation "power PC" has no port for a "chip" . I think that is great. Warranty expense is killing Ford Motor Company. They have mandated that they want to cut that expense by 50% in 2003. How do you make that goal? You sure as heck cannot design it into the product as they are already in the field. What you do right now is start to scrutinizing the warranty claims. Do you think that "Joe Dickweed" deserves a new motor after he blows the rod and piston out the side of the block while using a 150 shot of Nitrous. What is really bad is that many of the L crowd post at a site like F150 Online bragging about the exploits on the street and the strip. They state how they will remove all of this crap from there vehicle and tell the dealer that they were just driving away from the stop sign and the motor let go. What many of these "Bozo's do not know is that the SVT guys on the hot lines watch the message board and they know most of the characters. Over two years ago I use to go see the Hot line guys after work and it was good for a laugh all the stories they would tell me and the screen names that went with the tales.
I add something for you to read.
DEARBORN, Mich., Feb. 7, 2003 (FCN) -- Ford executives recently participated in a Global Leadership Meeting in Dearborn to discuss the state of the company moving forward into 2003.
While senior executives acknowledged that great progress was made in 2002 trimming costs, improving quality and rebuilding critical business and employee relationships, Ford Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Ford emphasized that the intensity of these efforts must increase in 2003 and employees must pursue change with an increased sense of urgency.
"The strategic elements of the plan certainly haven't changed: building great products, improving quality, lowering costs. These are still the hallmarks as we go forward," Ford said. "But what concerns us as a management group is when you look beyond '03. To put it very bluntly, as well as we're doing we're not moving fast enough."
Although Ford is on track to reach its target of a $7 billion profit by mid-decade, that number will only keep the company "in the game," Ford stressed. "It doesn't make us winners, and we've got to do better than that."
Ford's Revitalization priorities -- rebuilding the product pipeline, improving quality, reducing costs and rebuilding relationships -- were the right ones to lead the company forward, executives noted. Efforts to achieve these priorities must be executed and accelerated by dismantling functional chimneys and bureaucracy, they said. And teamwork and personal accountability are critical to these efforts, they stressed.
"Doing things differently isn't easy, especially at Ford," Ford acknowledged. "When you disturb the status quo, you certainly can count on some resistance, and you need to take risks both personally and professionally. My question to all of you is what are you waiting for?"
Indeed, employees shouldn't wait before helping Ford push its recovery operation to a new level, said Nick Scheele, president and chief operating officer. Consolidation, takeovers and bankruptcies in the industry are still taking place and for the first time in his memory, some industry observers think that Ford might be one of the casualties, in one form or another.
"None of us here obviously think that but I think it really has to get our attention that there are others -- sober analysts of our industry -- who no longer believe that it is completely impossible," Scheele said.
Scheele noted that Ford has been pushed off course by a variety of factors, key among them growing competitive pressures. Ford has a substantial cost disadvantage per vehicle versus other manufacturers in both North America and Europe. The hyper competitive vehicle manufacturing environment that has emerged has surprised even Ford's senior management team, he said.
"It would be hard to overestimate the importance of this year to the Ford Motor Company," Scheele said. "2003 is truly a pivotal year. We are going to dramatically accelerate the pace of improvement in our initial revitalization plan to reduce costs and improve the business structure."
Quality is central to the long-term viability of Ford, Scheele added, and it is vital that the company continue to improve its performance in this area. Similarly, Ford cannot lose sight of the fact that the industry ebbs and flows around product.
"Getting the business structure right ultimately will have tremendous positive impact on our products, but we cannot wait for that and we certainly can't take short-term actions on cost that harm our long-term product capability," said Scheele.