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Hau Thai-Tang to speak at JP Morgan Auto Conference 2018 Aug. 8th


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https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2018/08/02/ford-motor-company-to-participate-in-j-p--morgans-auto-conferenc.html

 

 

 


Thai-Tang will discuss elements of Ford’s previously announced target of $25.5 billion in cumulative cost and efficiency opportunities through 2022, which represents an average annual improvement of about 3 percent in the company’s planned cost base, as well as Ford’s plan to allocate capital to its high-margin growth portfolio.

Thai-Tang will provide an overview of how Ford is revamping its product development system to improve efficiency, quality and speed to market, including a move to five modular, flexible architectures from nine global platforms.

In addition to operational improvements, Thai-Tang will discuss the company’s capital allocation strategy to refocus capital on high-margin, high-growth businesses. For example, in 2015, Ford’s five-year plan was to allocate 63 percent of product capital to trucks, commercial vehicles and utilities. Ford’s updated five-year plan starting in 2019 calls for allocating about 90 percent of product capital expenditures on trucks, commercial vehicles and utilities, delivering vehicles Ford’s customers want.

Thai-Tang also will provide a glimpse into the future of Ford’s winning portfolio, including the new silhouettes the company is developing to satisfy a broad range of customers.

I'm not expecting much to be revealed with how cryptic and uninformative Ford's recent presentations have been lately, but it could be interesting.

Edited by rmc523
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I'm happy that Ford is doing this and as soon as next week. I guess that's why the Shareholders meeting previously planned to be held in September was cancelled. Unless that's something else. I'm sure some of the info that will be discussed is something we all already know and had been talking about here. Hopefully there'll be some photos revealed in their presentation slideshows especially if they'll be talking about white space silhouettes. Curious to see what else will be announced that may be new info for us/me.

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Poor old Hau Thai Tang, he's gonna get ambushed on this one, Morgan Stanley's

Adam Jonas will be laying in wait with questions he can't possibly answer............

I do remember Adam giving Hackett some hard times with questions at past meetings similar to this. I'm sure Tang will be better at answering since he's not Hackett who tends to be ambiguous. From what I seen in some video interviews and clips, Tang is pretty straight forward with his comments and responses. But possibly there will be some things that Tang just don't know the answers too since it's likely that Hackett hadn't been able to relay his plans clearly to even his associates. We'll see.

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But possibly there will be some things that Tang just don't know the answers too since it's likely that Hackett hadn't been able to relay his plans clearly to even his associates. We'll see.

 

On the other hand, Thai-Tang is just the guy to talk to regarding engineering specifics of the five new modular, global platforms. Hackett is way out of his league talking about the guts of cars, Thai-Tang is not.

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On the other hand, Thai-Tang is just the guy to talk to regarding engineering specifics of the five new modular, global platforms. Hackett is way out of his league talking about the guts of cars, Thai-Tang is not.

Thai-Tang has an advantage over most of Ford's senior management: he is an engineer who moved into management, not someone who came up through the sales/marketing structure, so he actually knows how the systems work and how the cars get built. He's also run major divisions, so he's seen the big picture.

 

It seems to me that he is much more of the Mulally mould than of the Fields/Farley ilk.

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Let’s not forget he was also race engineer for Newman-Haas back in the 90’s, ran SVT, and was Chief Engineer for the ’05 Mustang. A guy who knows and understands product. I was pleased that he now reports directly to Hackett, not Joe Hinrichs, as before. A remarkable career for a kid who escaped Saigon when it fell to the North back in 1975.

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Let’s not forget he was also race engineer for Newman-Haas back in the 90’s, ran SVT, and was Chief Engineer for the ’05 Mustang. A guy who knows and understands product. I was pleased that he now reports directly to Hackett, not Joe Hinrichs, as before. A remarkable career for a kid who escaped Saigon when it fell to the North back in 1975.

He was also an engineering lead on the Lincoln LS, so he was the guy who was ultimately responsible for deciding that his previous baby (LS) wasn't going to work as a base for his new baby ('05 Mustang). That says a lot about his engineering integrity, IMHO.

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On the other hand, Thai-Tang is just the guy to talk to regarding engineering specifics of the five new modular, global platforms. Hackett is way out of his league talking about the guts of cars, Thai-Tang is not.

I agree with that since he's a great engineer. I was talking about things that only Hackett knows what he wanted to do that he may not have relayed it well to the other associates including Hau Thai-Tang. It seems that many other people working for Hackett don't know what the plans are. Like the recent rush of announcement about culling of sedans. I have high respect for Thai-Tang as engineer and as man who knows what he's talking about. I do think he'll do good in the meeting regarding the platform architectures as you mentioned but may not be able to answer the questions regarding the other issues that Hackett himself don't even know what he wants to do. I do hope that there is a future for Thai-Tang someday as CEO the way he keeps going up in positions within Ford.

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It seems that many other people working for Hackett don't know what the plans are. Like the recent rush of announcement about culling of sedans. I have high respect for Thai-Tang as engineer and as man who knows what he's talking about. I do think he'll do good in the meeting regarding the platform architectures as you mentioned but may not be able to answer the questions regarding the other issues that Hackett himself don't even know what he wants to do. I do hope that there is a future for Thai-Tang someday as CEO the way he keeps going up in positions within Ford.

 

I don't follow. Hackett isn't making decisions in a vacuum, he relies on his management team for advice. Thai-Tang is part of the management team and part of all discussions regarding Ford's future product plans.

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I'm sure that Hau Thai Tang knows his engineering and will set the scene on the nuts and bolts side but

it's the financial side I'm concerned with, that's where he will struggle to fend off Jonas.

 

 

.In addition to operational improvements,Thai-Tang will discuss the company’s capital allocation strategy to

refocus capital on high-margin, high-growth businesses. For example, in 2015, Ford’s five-year plan was to

allocate 63 percent of product capital to trucks, commercial vehicles and utilities. Ford’s updated five-year plan

starting in 2019 calls for allocating about 90 percent of product capital expenditures on trucks, commercial

vehicles and utilities, delivering vehicles Ford’s customers want.

 

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I don't follow. Hackett isn't making decisions in a vacuum, he relies on his management team for advice. Thai-Tang is part of the management team and part of all discussions regarding Ford's future product plans.

I was speaking of the financial aspects of Hackett's plans as well as the electrified cars, autonomous cars, and the City of Tomorrow plan that are also something that Bill Ford likes and wants in place too. Hackett has been ambiguous about these things I mentioned that seems as though he's not even sure if his own plans will work or not. Look at how the shareholders meeting originally set in September has been cancelled. The July sales results and 2nd quarter sales results put a damper in Hackett's plans it seems to a point that now he doesn't even know what to do. Or so it seems. I just hope Thai-Tang is fully prepared with questions that will or may be asked. I'm hoping Hackett has made some decisions and informed Thai-Tang about this. We saw what happened with the announcement of culling of sedans only for Farley to then respond with announcement of white space silhouettes plans. I know Thai-Tang will do great with the engineering aspects like the modular architectures that will be discussed but not so sure about the financial aspects of Ford's plans like the allocation of capital spending.

 

I'm sure that Hau Thai Tang knows his engineering and will set the scene on the nuts and bolts side but

it's the financial side I'm concerned with, that's where he will struggle to fend off Jonas.

 

 

This. This is precisely what I was talking about, mackinaw. Jonas can be pretty aggressive with his questions as we seen before when he addressed Hackett about Ford's plans in the past.

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I don't think they're changing plans mid stream. I think they're just terrible at PR right now.

 

They have these new initiatives - new crossovers and "active" vehicles, BEVs, more hybrids, AVs and an AV transportation as a service platform - that require resources including factory space.

 

They are unwilling to build a brand new factory (which I think is a mistake in the long run).

 

They have a mandate of 8% profit margin so they are prioritizing projects to meet that goal. Those new projects are projected to help meet the goal. Focus and Fusion regular cars aren't going to meet that goal given the current market conditions.

 

The question is whether those projections are accurate for the new projects and what effect killing regular cars will have on the remaining products. And we won't know that for a few years at least.

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I don't think they're changing plans mid stream. I think they're just terrible at PR right now.

 

They have these new initiatives - new crossovers and "active" vehicles, BEVs, more hybrids, AVs and an AV transportation as a service platform - that require resources including factory space.

 

They are unwilling to build a brand new factory (which I think is a mistake in the long run).

 

They have a mandate of 8% profit margin so they are prioritizing projects to meet that goal. Those new projects are projected to help meet the goal. Focus and Fusion regular cars aren't going to meet that goal given the current market conditions.

 

The question is whether those projections are accurate for the new projects and what effect killing regular cars will have on the remaining products. And we won't know that for a few years at least.

 

I think they should've finished that new Mexican plant.

 

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Regardless of what is said or not said, they need to think about the PR consequences of whatever they present/don't present. That's what's gotten them where they are now - an inexplicable lack of ability to have some foresight into how certain moves/announcements may appear to the average consumer that doesn't follow the industry.

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I think they should've finished that new Mexican plant.

 

---

 

Regardless of what is said or not said, they need to think about the PR consequences of whatever they present/don't present. That's what's gotten them where they are now - an inexplicable lack of ability to have some foresight into how certain moves/announcements may appear to the average consumer that doesn't follow the industry.

 

Agreed. And the sudden need to broadcast their longer term plans way too early.

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This is precisely what I was talking about, mackinaw. Jonas can be pretty aggressive with his questions as we seen before when he addressed Hackett about Ford's plans in the past.

 

I wouldn't worry. There's little chance of Thai-Tang going rogue. He's precisely the guy who can answer financial questions. Being in charge of product development he knows the financials better than most.

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I wouldn't worry. There's little chance of Thai-Tang going rogue. He's precisely the guy who can answer financial questions. Being in charge of product development he knows the financials better than most.

I'm hoping he'll do good. We'll see in a couple days. It could be that I and some others are worried/concerned for nothing.

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