What is Ford doing for its customers

[jmcgon237]

Ford is finally pissing me off. I am not upset by the things that Ford has little control of like chips and supplier delays, but I am concerned that they are doing little to meet what their customers want. For close to 2 years now they cannot build enough cars due to their manufacturing limitations. Only one plant shared with several different models. Could they not change over production in a second plant? Then Ford takes orders for 23 models and books more orders than they want to make. There are way more orders for hybris and XL so instead of trying to meet that demand, the customer can compromise from what they want, and Ford will now be happy to allow changes to engines and models. OK, so the order gets changed to a model and engine that Ford wants, and they look at the order in 8 months and do not build it because the customer had the nerve to order mud flaps, but Ford does not have mud flaps so instead of contacting the very patient customer the order can just get transferred to next year model.
Ford did a very good job identifying a new market and had great potential in dominating with small pick-ups but all they did was to tell Toyota, Ram, Hyundai, Chevy and all the rest to come on in we are showing the way to make money because we do not have the management commitment to build trucks and make happy customers. Could you imagine how many Mavericks would be on the road today if Ford would just have bult them, but I am seeing a lot of Sants Cruz in the area.

Sponsored

 

[PlantMan]

My local Hyundai dealer is the only dealer with substantial inventory, including SC. I wonder if they are doing custom orders at all or just sending dealers builds for their inventory. It wouldn't surprise me if Ford greatly reduces retail orders for MY24 and builds more dealer stock units. The current dealer model is oriented towards selling current inventory.

 

[Fitzovich]

I believe that you hit the nail on the head. The rollout of the Maverick has been a "Cluster&%/*" of great magnitude. I can't say much of anything good about Ford's efforts here, because I simply cannot find much of anything good. They are rolling out a hybrid truck which while nice really should have been done decades ago and doing so very, very poorly.

 

[Smithmy]

Why haven't the large share holders requested a CEO change. 2 years and counting of constraints, hire a CEO that will fix the problems instead of apologizing. Design electronics around chips that are available instead of using chips that no one wants to make. Use empty rail transport to supply factors instead of trucks that will not deliver because of one way loads. Imagine where the stock price would be if Ford was able to meet the demand.

 

[jmcgon237]

I am going to inject a little Elon Musk here. First there was probably CPAs involved who advised Ford they should not spend the money on factories and commitments for larger parts contracts. We all know what Elon and Sandy Munro think of CPAs in the automotive industry. Second Elon would be making a million cars a year at the Mexico plant and have started construction on at least one more plant just for Mavericks and Bronco Sport alone.

 

[NoVaJimmy]

My local Hyundai dealer is the only dealer with substantial inventory, including SC. I wonder if they are doing custom orders at all or just sending dealers builds for their inventory. It wouldn't surprise me if Ford greatly reduces retail orders for MY24 and builds more dealer stock units. The current dealer model is oriented towards selling current inventory.

Hyundai hedged against the chip industry and stockpiled well before the pandemic so they are a unique case.


Edit: I don't believe Hyundai will take custom orders, just allocate inventory to dealers, dealers know what's coming and can assign it to a customer.

 

[MinntoMich]

I think it's a lack of understanding of what Ford's customer and potential customer base wants and the problem just isn't with Ford. Management and those with their eyes on company finances do not have foresight by their nature... they react to the market instead of setting the market. No surprise that the Maverick sells like hotcakes and they can't make enough. Base model around $22,000 with a high economy powertrain and four doors plus a box and its no wonder why they can't make enough as that is what most of us want. We don't want or can't afford a full size truck and since you Ford have all but left the car market by choice (profit) is this success to much of a puzzle for anyone to figure out... no duh. Quit listening to the bean counters. They will efficiently do their jobs until your out of business or left behind in a changing market.

When I think of management that is on top of what customers really want or sees a segment that has potential the name I always come up with 1st is Lee Iacocca.

$56.00 for a 56' Ford, the Mustang, Pinto, K-car, minivan but then the difference was he was actually an ordinary guy with a working class background. Yeah, he would have got it but then Ford fires people like that. And they did too.

Maybe they will retool another plant but probably not. Shouldn't have closed the St Paul truck assembly but as with the Maverick the production moves out of the country and its more than a trend.

 

[CTYankee]

For close to 2 years now they cannot build enough cars due to their manufacturing limitations. Only one plant shared with several different models. Could they not change over production in a second plant?

Most manufacturers don't carry excess plant capacity; it's way too expensive. Building a new plant takes $8-$10 billion and 2-3 years, not counting time for location scouting, environmental reviews, and permitting. Hermosilla became available for Bronco and Maverick assembly when the Fusion and MKZ models were discontinued.

Then Ford takes orders for 23 models and books more orders than they want to make. There are way more orders for hybris and XL so instead of trying to meet that demand, the customer can compromise from what they want, and Ford will now be happy to allow changes to engines and models. OK, so the order gets changed to a model and engine that Ford wants, and they look at the order in 8 months and do not build it because the customer had the nerve to order mud flaps, but Ford does not have mud flaps so instead of contacting the very patient customer the order can just get transferred to next year model.

It isn't about what "Ford wants". It's about what they have inventory to build; what they can build rather than what they want to build. But you're right that they should have the ability to give the customer a chance to modify their order to something that can be built and delivered.

Ford doesn't book orders; the dealers do. Ford then looks at the orders that came in vs. their ability to produce and reconciles them as best they can.

The Maverick launch is reminiscent of the 1964-5 Mustang launch. Orders exceeded Ford's wildest expectations, but the manufacturing process was different then, so the Mustang was being produced by 3 different plants (Metuchen, Dearborn, and San Jose), some of which were producing other models that had little or nothing in common with the Mustang.

Design electronics around chips that are available instead of using chips that no one wants to make.

Technology doesn't work that way anymore. Most of the chips in modern vehicles are custom designs to fit specific functionality. There are no off-the-shelf alternatives.

Use empty rail transport to supply factors instead of trucks that will not deliver because of one-way loads. Imagine where the stock price would be if Ford was able to meet the demand.

There hasn't been empty rail capacity for some time now. Capacity constraints still exist and will likely continue into 2023.

I am going to inject a little Elon Musk here. First there was probably CPAs involved who advised Ford they should not spend the money on factories and commitments for larger parts contracts. We all know what Elon and Sandy Munro think of CPAs in the automotive industry. Second Elon would be making a million cars a year at the Mexico plant and have started construction on at least one more plant just for Mavericks and Bronco Sport alone.

The decision to expand capacity would fall to the C-suite executives and the Board of Directors. It's a strategic decision well beyond the purview of a CPA. But there would be an ROI analysis to determine when, or if, the investment in new capacity would have an acceptable payback period. They would also look at the availability of labor for a new plant.

However, mixing the Maverick or Bronco into another assembly plant building completely different models wouldn't likely be feasible due to the design of the assembly line.

They may have done all that and concluded that the initial demand won't last long enough to recover the costs involved.

I do understand the frustration of those waiting for their Maverick to be built and delivered. It's why I thank my lucky stars I was able to purchase a refused order at MSRP and avoid the whole order process.

The above comments are simply to clarify that there are no simple answers and that Fords options are limited. Customer communications and better order management, however, are not and should be improved using lessons learned from this launch.

 

[Smithmy]

Rail cars are empty when they are delivered to plant to pickup new cars

 

[CTYankee]

Rail cars are empty when they are delivered to plant to pickup new cars

But they have to be available to go to the plant. As do the locomotives and crews.

 

[commadorebob]

Why haven't the large share holders requested a CEO change.

Because he is about to deliver the best earnings per share since before 2016... even in a market in which he can't build them fast enough. Shareholders don't care how long you wait for your Maverick as long as you still buy it.

 

[csuh13]

Most manufacturers don't carry excess plant capacity; it's way too expensive. Building a new plant takes $8-$10 billion and 2-3 years, not counting time for location scouting, environmental reviews, and permitting. Hermosilla became available for Bronco and Maverick assembly when the Fusion and MKZ models were discontinued.

When Tesla couldn't build enough cars at their Fremont factory, they put a huge tent up outside and built another assembly line there. I'm sure Ford could do that if they really wanted to...

 

[OrangeBlue]

I love when highly opinionated, but totally uninformed people explain "how bidness oughtta work" on this site.
Keep it comin' guys.

 

[Old Hickory Trojan]

Hyundai hedged against the chip industry and stockpiled well before the pandemic so they are a unique case.


Edit: I don't believe Hyundai will take custom orders, just allocate inventory to dealers, dealers know what's coming and can assign it to a customer.

Hyundai will take custom orders through the dealer. I talked to a dealer before I bought and they would do a custom order for me but I found one I wanted on a lot

 

[Old Hickory Trojan]

I love when highly opinionated, but totally uninformed people explain "how bidness oughtta work" on this site.
Keep it comin' guys.

I love how you have an opinion with nothing to back it up. Seems to me if you go back to posts from 2021 and find the attachments made by Ford and then watch a few Long McArthur videos over the same period and you might find a few promises that Ford didn't deliver on unrelated to the supply chain uncertainty.

Sponsored