How are production schedules set?

[FabTbird]

I have a new mustang gt ordered and scheduled for the week of March 26. Are cars grouped together by options or color of kind of randomly?

Edited March 6, 2018 by FabTbird

[akirby]

I don’t think they’re grouped at all. Each week they look at all the orders that are capable of being built (no material holds or option restrictions) and they give each dealer a certain allocation (number of vehicles) based on their past sales. E.g. a dealer may have 10 mustangs on order but only gets allocation this week for 3. They then select the 3 with the lowest numerical priority and build those. If priority is a tie they go by earliest order date. That’s why it’s important to have a low priority (10 is the best) for special orders.

[FabTbird]

Thanks for the reply. Are material holds very common?

[fuzzymoomoo]

Thanks for the reply. Are material holds very common?

Depends on a lot of things, but generally no.

 

Lately theyve been having a problem with getting Door panels from the supplier.

[akirby]

On some models, yes but probably not mustangs. Fuzzy would know.

[fuzzymoomoo]

Generally Ive noticed (hopefully ice-capades or one of the other dealer guys can verify or correct this) if theres a commodity hold its either for a very high end feature or something incredibly stupid you would never think would be on a hold. More the former than the latter for sure.

 

On a Mustang (or other performance model) if you order a carbon fiber package that almost always delays an order from what Ive noticed.

Edited March 7, 2018 by fuzzymoomoo

[FabTbird]

Interesting you mentioned carbon fiber. A guy on mustang6g has a car delayed and he has the carbon fiber option. A Canadian buyer had his car delayed until next year because of magneride dampers but there doesn't seem to be a delay for US buyers.

[fuzzymoomoo]

Interesting you mentioned carbon fiber. A guy on mustang6g has a car delayed and he has the carbon fiber option. A Canadian buyer had his car delayed until next year because of magneride dampers but there doesn't seem to be a delay for US buyers.

someone mentioned in another thread that for whatever reason the Magneride dampers are limited availability right now. Unfortunately for the Canadian guy the US gets first crack at stuff like that.

[FabTbird]

someone mentioned in another thread that for whatever reason the Magneride dampers are limited availability right now. Unfortunately for the Canadian guy the US gets first crack at stuff like that.

Good to hear because I ordered the magneride dampers. Mine is scheduled for the week of March 26 according to the Ford performance folks.

[ice-capades]

Commodity issues directly prevent an order from being scheduled but Ford often makes exceptions in order to schedule Retail orders. Once the order is scheduled, the commodity issues no longer have an impact and the vehicle will be produced as ordered. On Mustang GT's the GT Performance Package and the MagneRide Damping System are both commodity issues with limited availability. Orders placed towards the end of the Model Year have the greatest risk in general for not getting scheduled as it's not uncommon for certain commodities to "Balance Out" early. The best availability for options is at beginning of the Model Year.

 

The 2018 Expedition can be expected to have commodity issues regarding Limited and Platinum availability due to demand and production capacity for the rest of the 2018 Model Year.

 

Dealers are provided with general commodity information when they do the "wholesale" allocation meetings. The information provides a guide as to the model, powertrain and commodity mix that will be available for scheduling for the upcoming production period.

[ice-capades]

I don’t think they’re grouped at all. Each week they look at all the orders that are capable of being built (no material holds or option restrictions) and they give each dealer a certain allocation (number of vehicles) based on their past sales. E.g. a dealer may have 10 mustangs on order but only gets allocation this week for 3. They then select the 3 with the lowest numerical priority and build those. If priority is a tie they go by earliest order date. That’s why it’s important to have a low priority (10 is the best) for special orders.

 

Dealers receive proposed allocation on a monthly basis which is usually referred to as the "wholesale" for the next production period. Dealers can accept, reject or make a supplemental request for additional allocation in addition to what they've been offered. Once the "wholesale" is done, Ford then slots the allocation for scheduling the vehicles over the next month's scheduling period. When a Dealer has allocation for a number of vehicles, the allocation is normally spread out over the upcoming weeks. The allocation is the first matter dealt with, then the scheduling. The commodity issues change on a weekly basis. When a Dealer has allocation they have to have clean, buildable orders that comply with that week's commodity restrictions or Ford will schedule the SIMS orders that Ford created. SIMS = Smart Inventory Management System!