Flexible production is key goal at ford: Anne Stevens outlines the automaker's new assembly strategy

摘要

After a record-setting year in 1999, Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, MI) hit a brick wall. Under the leadership of former CEO Jacques Nasser, the automaker suffered a devastating series of quality lapses that resulted in expensive product recalls, irate customers and low employee morale. Last year, Ford's U.S. vehicle sales dropped 6 percent from 2000 levels and the company lost USD5.5 billion. In an attempt to turn the company around, Bill Ford stepped in as CEO one year ago. In January, he unveiled a 5-year restructuring plan aimed at slashing costs by USD4.5 billion. To achieve that ambitious goal, the company plans to close several assembly plants and improve relations with suppliers. Ford also plans to make a "product-led recovery" by revamping its aging lineup of mass-volume cars with vehicles geared to more specific consumer tastes. Ford is abandoning traditional production practices in which assembly plants are dedicated to only one car or truck model. Instead, it's borrowing an idea from Japanese competitors: building multiple vehicle configurations on the same assembly line. Flexible manufacturing will allow the automaker to respond quickly to changes in customer demand and adjust products according to market trends.