Clicking sound with hybrid

[Red Ryder]

Fast tracked by auto industry standards means 3 years instead of 4 or 5. It's not like they rushed it out the door without a care in the world. One of the most commonly cited reasons why Ford was able to fast track the maverick's development in the first place was because they started with the rock solid reliable c2 platform that had already accumulated around 10 million miles of durability testing before the maverick was even developed. By the time the maverick was developed, c2 had around 16 million miles of durability testing on it. Along with billions of miles of real world data and usage from the hundreds of thousands of products that were driving around with that platform.

The most time consuming process of most products development is creating something from scratch, and proving it out. If you can start with a platform, and a series of powertrains that are already extremely reliable, then you shave years off a development cycle without harming quality, and long term reliability in the slightest. In fact, the approach used by the maverick team is what you want if you want a reliable vehicle. Using a bunch a parts that have been around for years, decades, without engineering too many new components.

It's the same principle my grandfather, and other Boeing engineers incorporated when working on the development of new aircraft. Boeing aircraft are quite possibly the more reliable, safest, yet complex machines on the planet. Millions of individual components that have to function flawlessly for decades and millions of miles, and you only have a few years to bring that plane to market.

His team was given maybe 10 years max to develop new aircraft offerings, and that was only for ambitious programs like the original 1960s 747 he worked on, quite possibly the most iconic and influential aircraft in history. It was usually well below that 10 years window.

The way they saved time was to repurpose and reuse a ton of existing components from other planes. Interiors, electronics, control systems, landing gear, even engines, were all repurposed and reused. If the system works for a plane made of millions of parts, it works for a car made of a few thousand parts.

Ford did add some uniqueness to the Maverick, such as the in-house motor, albeit it hasn't been an issue. I never heard of the aluminum wire connector harness issues in the earlier Ford hybrids. There WERE some shortcuts to get it to market quickly and cheaply.
As for Boeing, I did some contract work for Boeing during the 767 development at both the Everett and Renton facilities. Rigor was high for Boeing back in the day, but even they are not immune to competitive pressure. Look at the MCAS system and how it came to be in an effort to rush a product to market.

Sponsored

 

[OneAlienBoi]

As for Boeing, I did some contract work for Boeing during the 767 development at both the Everett and Renton facilities. Rigor was high for Boeing back in the day, but even they are not immune to competitive pressure. Look at the MCAS system and how it came to be in an effort to rush a product to market.

Yeah, MCAS was a disaster of the highest order. It really rubs me the wrong way that Boeing's upper management pushed engineers to create such a flawed system,and then hide it from pilots, and the general public until planes started crashing. Some of the engineers who called Boeing out over this were fired, meanwhile, Boeing's CEOs "punishment" was early retirement, and a 60 million dollar golden parachute.

I swear, being a CEO must be one of the easiest jobs in the world. You just tell other people what to do all day, and get paid millions of dollars, even if you screw up, and get people killed in the process. Creating something with inherent engineering shortcomings that ultimately dooms people, it reminds me a lot of the Titan disaster, if you know what that is. At least with that, the idiot CEO went down with the ship so to speak.

 

[Red Ryder]

Boeing had a culture shift once McDonnell Douglas executives took over upper management. Even though Boeing acquired MD, somehow some key MD management took the reins, moved the HQ out of Seattle, and created the mess they are today. Once an engineer's company, ran by engineers, the culture shift to bottom-line first decision making killed the brand's product-first image.

CEO's with golden parachute exit strategies can have the accountability of a weather forecaster, yet walk away rich from their mistakes. I'm very aware of the Titan disaster. Thankfully, the scope was limited (not to minimize what happened to the victims), and as you said, there wasn't an exit path for that CEO.

Sponsored