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D DAY AT FORD


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5 hours ago, akirby said:

That's a good reason.   Move them to Azure!

I plan to, but I first need to get them off of SQL Server 2005.  They have SSRS reports that I built using a 3rd part charting tool back in 2008.  No newer version of SQL supports it because Microsoft bought the tool (Dundas Charts) and integrated it in SQL Server 2008, but changed some of the functionality.  So, it's about a $20k project to rewrite it, and the owner (she's an alcoholic) can't decide if she wants to work from one day to the next, so spending the money to upgrade is out of the question. 

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59 minutes ago, jpd80 said:

The bottom line is massive over sell of emerging opportunities to make more profit for Ford while F Series is loaded up with paying for all of it. It’s like Ford wants to be anything other than an auto company.

I don't think Ford has a choice. The whole automotive industry is undergoing the most radical transformation since the motor car was invented. If Ford continues down the road of traditional "auto company", with a business model based on selling gasoline and diesel powered light vehicles, they'll hit a dead end. Or go off a cliff.

Hackett has a very tough job. He has to get Ford "fit" again and that means getting rid of a lot of jobs from the old era. At the same time he has to come up with strategies that will keep it healthy long term in an industry defined by shared, electrified, autonomous vehicles. Hackett's plans have been slow to get underway, frustrating investors and industry analysts. But he is pulling it off. He's a good businessman who has vision. Just need to quicken the pace and get rid of more deadwood.

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1 hour ago, akirby said:

You can do pretty much anything you want with 40 mbps.  

Yeah.  40 mbps is plenty fast for most people at home.  Their WiFi most likely doesn't support much more than that anyway.  Heck, I rarely have an issue with 7.5.

1 hour ago, akirby said:

...only 75 mbps.

??????

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7 hours ago, silvrsvt said:

But that is a joke when Cable starts at 100 mbps....

Yeah, ask them how much it'll cost to run that cable service out to a rural area that's really not even that rural any more. I'll give you a hint: the answer was freaking absurd. My rural electric coop is running fiber to the house, which is the only affordable broadband available to me (UVerse, which I have, is a joke, falling 19Mbps short of qualifying as broadband). 

Of course, they just now gotten their service running just in time for me to move to a new town...

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29 minutes ago, fordmantpw said:

Yeah.  40 mbps is plenty fast for most people at home.  Their WiFi most likely doesn't support much more than that anyway.  Heck, I rarely have an issue with 7.5.

??????

I know right?! I'm on 23 mpbs DSL because I steadfastly refuse to give Comcast any of my business after they twice ruined my credit for stuff that was their fault. 

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5 hours ago, akirby said:

You can do pretty much anything you want with 40 mbps.   And I have Comcast business internet at home and it’s only 75 mbps.

I've had them all over the years... dialup, DSL (I'm less than a mile from the central switching office) to the 200 mbps service I've had now from Comcast for years. When I upgraded from 50MB to 100MB service a number of years ago, when it first became available, Comcast required a technician to measure it to make sure that they could actually deliver 100MB service because it was guaranteed and on an annual contract at $100/month. Then a few years ago because of the total monthly cost with Comcast getting so high, I called and changed my service to one of their bundles which cut my monthly bill by about $85/month. The new "bundle" cost a lot less but they changed the way it was billed with the 200MB Internet (no contract or service guarantee any longer) now being billed at only $20/month instead of $100/month. Since I do so much web based work from home, the company reimburses me for my Internet fees so the Comcast billing change actually hurt me. Now my overall Comcast is back up to where it was before and I've had it with their business practices.

One of the major issues I have is that neither Comcast or Frontier reveal any of their pricing plans and/or service options to existing customers. The only prices disclosed are the promotional first year plans advertised for new customers. Every one of their customer services representatives is a "retention" specialist that can literally make up pricing in order to keep a customer from cancelling their account. I could care less about a bundle including phone service as I haven't had a landline phone in 20 years and only watch about a half dozen cable TV networks, even though my job includes TV media placement. I'm ready to cancel everything but my Comcast Internet service even if I have to downgrade my service. I'll join the masses and cut the cord because the cost of cable is no longer worth it. I'll use Hulu or Sling and still be way ahead.

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Get Hulu TV, it's worth it. 

Playstation Vue is also good but the guide can be very glitchy. I had Direct TV now for a little while and it was ok but a little expensive. I guess that's because HBO is included in that. 

I'm about to get a trial of YouTube TV so I can watch the races in sunday without having to rely on my unreliable antenna, plus it doesn't pick up my local Fox broadcast (which is on a UHF band for some reason) so I would end up missing the 600. 

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23 hours ago, akirby said:

The major benefits of 5G has nothing to do with cell phones.  The applications of 5G to other devices including connected cars and industrial campuses is going to be huge ...

Despite what Tesla has already done, I do NOT believe that "connected cars" will arrive that quickly.  The car makers can see too many downsides.

As for industrial campuses, they already have fiber.  Ford Dearborn is a good example.  All engineering facilities in SE MI (with maybe the exception of the Romeo Proving Grounds) have been connect for over 10 years.  Fast and proven.

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22 hours ago, silvrsvt said:

If those areas can't get broadband Internet-it will be a huge impact if 5G is deployed there. That seems to be what the Telcos are trying to do since its cheaper then running cable to every house. 

The population density does not justify the cost, just as today.  5G uses millimeter wavelength signals.  Shorter distance (for the same power) and absolute "line of sight".

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14 hours ago, rperez817 said:

I don't think Ford has a choice. The whole automotive industry is undergoing the most radical transformation since the motor car was invented. If Ford continues down the road of traditional "auto company", with a business model based on selling gasoline and diesel powered light vehicles, they'll hit a dead end. Or go off a cliff.

Electric and autonomous are coming but to what extent ?  10 years from now, I'll bet more than 66% of Ford's revenues still come from  selling gasoline and diesel powered light vehicles.

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1 hour ago, theoldwizard said:

Despite what Tesla has already done, I do NOT believe that "connected cars" will arrive that quickly.  The car makers can see too many downsides.

As for industrial campuses, they already have fiber.  Ford Dearborn is a good example.  All engineering facilities in SE MI (with maybe the exception of the Romeo Proving Grounds) have been connect for over 10 years.  Fast and proven.

Drones and robots and cars need wireless connectivity and single digit millisecond latency and fiber can’t do that.   

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1 hour ago, Joe771476 said:

I have to laugh.  They've been cutting costs for 50 years!  Why weren't these cuts made 50 years ago?

Ford has been cutting costs almost since they opened for biz in 1903....Model T after a loooong run, Fordlandia, Edsel cars, Continental as a separate division, Heavy Truck in NA, Mercury, etc etc etc....the list is long and I have named only a few but any company that has lasted this long needs to evaluate and prepare for future trends or Ford could have just continued with the Model T into oblivion.

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Anyone who has watched Ford for the last two decades will know just how much they suffer on the other side of cost cutting.

No one ever considers that quality and reliability goes in the bin when Ford tries to take more profit and squeezes everything.

 

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  • 1 year later...
On 5/20/2019 at 10:59 AM, mackinaw said:

Many long-time employees were offered a sweetened retirement package.  My last Ford contact who worked in EV's (and her husband) were both offered a package they couldn't refuse.  They left on December 31st.  She worked at Ford about 30 years.

I get why companies do this, but when I hear and see it it worries me.

What happens when all the experience leaves? What do you have left?

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On 5/21/2019 at 12:01 AM, jpd80 said:

It sounds like Jim Hackett is actually doing what Alan Mulally pretended to do, dismantling fiefdoms that grew from all the excessive levels of management. My concern is who actually prepared this study on changes and driving it - what's their angle, keeping their own little corners?.

 

I watched the video of Jim Hackett in the link, he made a great point,

Yay, he gets it.

That's a great analogy and why buyers want something new and fresh, not cheap and chinzy make overs designed to save money....

TBF though, the problem with ghost busters wasn't that is was a sequel, the problem was that it was a low-quality reimagination that abandoned its fanbase, and ignored the history and identity of the original property that people grew to love.  To bring it back to our industry, The F-150 shows how you do a sequel right, and the Bronco looks to show how you properly reboot an old nameplate.

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