jasik

LINK Ford Motor Co. may have been spared a monster punitive damages verdict in an SUV rollover case because its lawyer was allowed to tell jurors about the carmaker's dire financial straits and mass layoffs. Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley said the company plans to appeal the verdict.

Perhaps the lucky Ford bonus recipients could use their bonuses to help pay for the 30% increase in salaried health care premiums. UAW could party with theirs.

:reading: What is the status of the Ford Employee's website? I haven't been able to login for the past week or so.

This rental car was a quite a new car. I didn't make a note of the mileage, but it seemed very clean and new. It did not appear to be banged up or have heavy or even moderate use.

I meant the left and right turn signals.

:shades: It's hard for me to understand how you could "break" the directional signals and wiper motor action. This Fusion was a relatively new vehicle. The 4 way signal worked, as did everything else I had a chance to check out at night. This sounds like an electrical problem. Maybe there was a chafed wire that shorted out this subsystem. At any rate I would expect the car to be more robust to customer usage.

Yesterday I picked up my rental vehicle, a new Ford Fusion, at an airport rental agency. I quickly found that the directional signals and wiper motor were not working. I returned to the agency and asked for a replacement car. I was given a Chrysler 300M. Is this an example of the Way Forward?

Ford Motor Co: Crappy Earnings, Convoluted Explanation Does Ford purposely use convoluted language to hide what is actually happening with its earnings (losses!)? Here are some excuses: "unfavorable volume and mix" = bad produce mix "non-recurrence of gains" = ?? "non-designated derivatives" = ?? Why shouldn't the bean counters be sent back to remedial English class?

Link to Fortune Magazine article

Where is W. Everett Deming, the management guru, when we need him now? He would probably say that all company problems are due to mismanagement by incompetent and ineffective management and not by lazy or undedicated workers. Deming was a consultant to Ford during the late 80s and early 90's, but unfortunately was not listened to.

:shrug: LINK-USAToday

:bandance: James Womack, the lean manufacturing guru, has a prescription to revive Ford's manufacturing. LINK Now all Ford needs is an internal automotive manufacturing wizard: E.G., J. Padilla, gone. A. Stevens, gone. Bean counters are not welcome.

LINK Clarification on capacity issue. Two to three more plants need to be closed.

:shrug: LINK 0.15X17,000,000 = 2,550,000 not 3,600,000!

:titanic: I think it's great that people are finally waking up to the realization that auto execs should drive cars other than what they make. They might actually learn a new thing or two.