I Want More Control Of My Build

[FischAutoTechGarten]

maybe start the application process here:

https://www.facebook.com/PlantaFordHermosillo

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[MakinDoForNow]

And I was expecting a request for a phone app to controll the assembly line robots= "push red button to weld body parts together", "push black to drop in bed liner", "push green to load on rail car"!!!!

No argument here. This sounded like a dreamy thread so just adding to that
Realisticlty though, I would look for a compromise so that dealers still get a token amount that is much better than going out of business. My initial pitch would just be to divide high information customers from the walk-ins.

As an aside, I read that Tesla is planning a showroom here in NH so I wonder if our legislature is starting to crack.

Someone posted that here in Texas where some Tesla's are made near Austin if you buy one it is trucked to Louisiana, loaded onto a different truck to be delivered to you even if you live across the street from the plant! So maybe you can look at one in NH and the one you buy will be trucked in just for you. Reminds me of the liquor store that had 2 front doors to get around the you can sell alcohol only six days a week. On Sundays you had to use door #2 which was owned by the spouse.

 

[Mavboy2023]

I know it ain't gonna happen, but this is my biggest frustration with the order process.

I'd mentioned in another post that I initially had the splash guards and floor liners on my order. I contacted my salesperson to cancel them a full 10 days before I was notified by Ford of my truck being scheduled to build. She sent me a revised order sheet that I signed and returned the same day. I even verified that it was received on her end, and she said she got it and the changes were made. So, I ordered aftermarket floor liners and splash guards I'd been looking at. When I got the Scheduled To Build notification ten days later from Ford, the splash guards and floor liners were still on the order!

Now I apparently have no real option but to watch my build get postponed because of mud flaps I don't want and supposedly cancelled. Salesperson said I could cancel the whole order and start from scratch. Not cool!

Ford, WHY won't you let me, THE CUSTOMER, remove these add-on plastic pieces, especially since the build is not scheduled until the week of October 23? Having NO control over the build I want (and signed for) is not fair! Isn't the customer supposed to call the shots on their own build?

Poor baby, I bet you were hell on wheels when you didn't get EXACTLY what you wanted at Christmas!

 

[TrailMaster]

Poor baby, I bet you were hell on wheels when you didn't get EXACTLY what you wanted at Christmas!

Seriously? I'd just hoped to make some minor changes that I was told had already been done. In addition, they dropped a SIBL from the order so I'll have to make an appointment somewhere (my town has no bed liner shops) and pay to have that done next summer sometime. But, hey, if you say nobody should have any gripes I will try to only post positive experiences.

 

[olderbudwiser]

I know it ain't gonna happen, but this is my biggest frustration with the order process.

I'd mentioned in another post that I initially had the splash guards and floor liners on my order. I contacted my salesperson to cancel them a full 10 days before I was notified by Ford of my truck being scheduled to build. She sent me a revised order sheet that I signed and returned the same day. I even verified that it was received on her end, and she said she got it and the changes were made. So, I ordered aftermarket floor liners and splash guards I'd been looking at. When I got the Scheduled To Build notification ten days later from Ford, the splash guards and floor liners were still on the order!

Now I apparently have no real option but to watch my build get postponed because of mud flaps I don't want and supposedly cancelled. Salesperson said I could cancel the whole order and start from scratch. Not cool!

Ford, WHY won't you let me, THE CUSTOMER, remove these add-on plastic pieces, especially since the build is not scheduled until the week of October 23? Having NO control over the build I want (and signed for) is not fair! Isn't the customer supposed to call the shots on their own build?

Emails from Ford are not up to date. My Maverick had been built. Subsequently received the 45 day email telling how hard they were working on getting my Maverick scheduled.

 

[Jman79]

You've gotten a few comments about being high maintenance and I similarly expected a snooty post following your title. However, I think your ask addresses a pretty commonly known problem and is reasonable. Dealers / middle men are making the process more difficult. I agree, why should you go through them for little tweaks such as accessories. If managed properly with a customer facing order system you could change options willynilly until certain cutoffs in the process with no impact (I have written this kind of software for the better part of 25 years).

I think ford knows this and it will eventually be corrected, just not for your timeline . Consider yourself an early adopter of the Maverick. Early adopters always pay a higher price one way or another. You're helping work out the bugs.

PS: Any Ford Co. Lurkers here want an experienced Front-End / UX engineer to get involved in the process of retooling the direct to customer experience, drop me a line . I've now got great perspective and emotional investment. Your underlying systems seem to have decent capability, just missing out on capitalizing wins of allowing customers to feel they have an iota of control.

 

[TrailMaster]

You've gotten a few comments about being high maintenance and I similarly expected a snooty post following your title. However, I think your ask addresses a pretty commonly known problem and is reasonable. Dealers / middle men are making the process more difficult. I agree, why should you go through them for little tweaks such as accessories. If managed properly with a customer facing order system you could change options willynilly until certain cutoffs in the process with no impact (I have written this kind of software for the better part of 25 years).

I think ford knows this and it will eventually be corrected, just not for your timeline . Consider yourself an early adopter of the Maverick. Early adopters always pay a higher price one way or another. You're helping work out the bugs.

PS: Any Ford Co. Lurkers here want an experienced Front-End / UX engineer to get involved in the process of retooling the direct to customer experience, drop me a line . I've now got great perspective and emotional investment. Your underlying systems seem to have decent capability, just missing out on capitalizing wins of allowing customers to feel they have an iota of control.

Thanks for your reply, this is exactly what I was getting at.
FORD, HIRE THIS MAN!

 

[Darnon]

The manufacturer just as much would probably not want to have to deal with customers being able to indecisively reconfigure their order on a whim when they're trying to take in consideration material availability to schedule thousands of vehicles for production.

 

[TrailMaster]

The manufacturer just as much would probably not want to have to deal with customers being able to indecisively reconfigure their order on a whim when they're trying to take in consideration material availability to schedule thousands of vehicles for production.

I could see a customer driven order system being a possibility, as long as the changes were submitted a week before the vehicle is scheduled for production. Maybe Ford could integrate AI logistics to streamline their order and inventory systems. The changes could be entered and verified immediately.

 

[Darnon]

Ah, yes, "just use AI". The panacea of the modern age.

 

[Waterick]

I know it ain't gonna happen, but this is my biggest frustration with the order process.

I'd mentioned in another post that I initially had the splash guards and floor liners on my order. I contacted my salesperson to cancel them a full 10 days before I was notified by Ford of my truck being scheduled to build. She sent me a revised order sheet that I signed and returned the same day. I even verified that it was received on her end, and she said she got it and the changes were made. So, I ordered aftermarket floor liners and splash guards I'd been looking at. When I got the Scheduled To Build notification ten days later from Ford, the splash guards and floor liners were still on the order!

Now I apparently have no real option but to watch my build get postponed because of mud flaps I don't want and supposedly cancelled. Salesperson said I could cancel the whole order and start from scratch. Not cool!

Ford, WHY won't you let me, THE CUSTOMER, remove these add-on plastic pieces, especially since the build is not scheduled until the week of October 23? Having NO control over the build I want (and signed for) is not fair! Isn't the customer supposed to call the shots on their own build?

So, the changes did not get all the way to Ford before you got scheduled. However, the build would not have been scheduled if those items were going to hold it up. If the item is not available you just will not be scheduled. So be happy, the constraints did not hold it up this time, but they could have.

 

[Vols44]

Many negative threads stem from customers who did not shop for a good dealer. Many, but not all, posters know that dealer installed options are a faster way to get scheduled.

Relying on the dealership to manage your order means a customer is at a dealer's mercy. Obtaining a copy of a DORA is the best way to hold a salesperson accountable for an order. A co-signed buyer's order ensures price protection when the principles of each MY memo are met. The Maverick's mid year price changes are a separate event from COVP approved, private offers.

My takeaway from this thread is a poster/customer needs to develop a checklist for "order placed to take delivery" and another checklist for "take delivery to drive off the lot".

 

[Jman79]

The manufacturer just as much would probably not want to have to deal with customers being able to indecisively reconfigure their order on a whim when they're trying to take in consideration material availability to schedule thousands of vehicles for production.

This is one of the main excuses given internally when efficiencies are proposed, but it's far from a legitimate reason, it's just an excuse. It's easily taken care of with a little forethought during the process design, when and how options solidify and your order becomes locked. Customers are already pretty aware of how changes may impact their build date even with the current system being horribly opaque.

Primary blockers for this type of initiative are:
- Cost upfront is easy to project while savings or increased sales in the long run is hard to project.
- Many of the benefits are intangible
- If not done improperly it will just be a different kind of crappy
- because of the intangible nature of the benefits you have to find a high level sponsored(often executive) to stick their neck out to champion the effort. Not so many willing.
- etc etc etc

That said, it is often underplayed how BIG the intangibles can be. This type of thing can launch companies forward in market position, brand strength, and stock price. Think of the companies that get consumer UX right and how well that plays out for them.

This is part of why the Maverick is so successfully. It was consumer centric, practical design. The designers had UX design as one of their core values. So, proof is in the pudding already, just apply this to other elements of the Ford Experience.

I've considered owning Ford stock since a little prior to finding the Maverick as my next vehicle of choice. I'd double down my potential investment if they show signs of getting this right!

 

[CTYankee]

An end-user facing application that can lock out (or allow) changes based on constraints wouldn't be that difficult to implement. Consider that the Build & Price application is already doing that by forcing changes to a build when subordinate option selections force a change to previous selections.

The more difficult issue here, IMHO, is the potential objections from the dealers, who likely want to retain control of the order throughout.

End-users adding to, or deleting items from, an order that has already been priced and signed creates the potential for renegotiation at delivery time. That's not insurmountable but it does create a potential need for dealer approval and repricing that could end up delaying a build if the dealer isn't on top of the modified orders. We know many of the dealers are not; for them, once the order is in, they want to move on to new business.

Let's also not forget that the dealer is actually Ford's customer, not you or I, and they don't want to end up with (potentially) oddly configured vehicles that will be harder to sell if the order holder forgoes delivery.

At the end of the day, though, I agree with the OP. The end-user should have better involvement and control of the order process within rules that work for Ford's supply chain requirements. After nearly 2 decades in corporate IT, I know the tech is the easy part. The hard part is getting the stakeholders within Ford and at the dealer level to agree to do it.

 

[Mavboy2023]

Seriously? I'd just hoped to make some minor changes that I was told had already been done. In addition, they dropped a SIBL from the order so I'll have to make an appointment somewhere (my town has no bed liner shops) and pay to have that done next summer sometime. But, hey, if you say nobody should have any gripes I will try to only post positive experiences.

Yes, seriously. Merry Christmas!

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