Ford warranty plan. Interesting read.

Floyd

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As your Icon might say..."DON'T PANIC!".....
Sounds like a reasonable incentive for suppliers to watch their quality control and provide trouble free parts to Ford.
 
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Radioman

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https://www.reuters.com/article/for...ty-costs-in-bid-to-boost-profit-idUSL1N2I91GW
Interesting read. Could be disastrous for suppliers with thin profit margins. But Ford has never really cared for who they put out of business.
M two cents after reading your link...
From the link:
"Bad parts from suppliers account for about one-third of Ford’s warranty costs, Drake said. "

“We’re targeting a fully competitive level of warranty spend on coverages and that’s got lots of zeroes next to it,” Farley said on an Oct. 28 earnings conference call, citing a need to be “punitive” with suppliers who ship faulty parts. "

It doesn't make sense to me for Ford to put their supplies "out of business". It does make sense to ensure suppliers don't take advantage by cutting their own quality control. Better parts from suppliers means more happy customers (and Investors).
 
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rltriumph

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Suppliers build what Ford specs. If Ford tries to save .0005 cents per vehicle by say using a thinner or cheaper material and it breaks its not really the suppliers fault. Ford only cares about Ford. Gm, Or anyone else it doesn’t matter. In my industry many of our problems warranty wise are not from workmanship but by cheapening out on spec’d parts. And the fact that the auto supply chain is interwoven globally could be disastrous. Heck the robots on Fords assembly lines are made by a Fiat subsidiary.
 

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Suppliers build what Ford specs. If Ford tries to save .0005 cents per vehicle by say using a thinner or cheaper material and it breaks its not really the suppliers fault. Ford only cares about Ford. Gm, Or anyone else it doesn’t matter. In my industry many of our problems warranty wise are not from workmanship but by cheapening out on spec’d parts. And the fact that the auto supply chain is interwoven globally could be disastrous. Heck the robots on Fords assembly lines are made by a Fiat subsidiary.
I doubt that a supplier could be held responsible for failed parts which were actually built to spec.
That should be easily provable.
 


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I doubt that a supplier could be held responsible for failed parts which were actually built to spec.
That should be easily provable.
The supplier couldn't be held responsible but due to the quantity Ford buys they can pressure them i.e. Firestone tires on the old Explorers or even the 6.0 L Navistar Diesel Ford called the Powerstroke.
In the aero industry we were careful about writing the spec then qualification testing the item to the spec and finally during production there would be acceptance testing of the item. This assures continuing quality but there would still be production issues during the acceptance testing. Acceptance testing is less rigorous than qualification. IDK if the auto industry is quite this rigorous as aircraft parts are far more expensive.
The exact same alternator used on an aircraft is far more expensive than the same as used on a car. The difference is testing.
 
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rltriumph

rltriumph

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The supplier couldn't be held responsible but due to the quantity Ford buys they can pressure them i.e. Firestone tires on the old Explorers or even the 6.0 L Navistar Diesel Ford called the Powerstroke.
In the aero industry we were careful about writing the spec then qualification testing the item to the spec and finally during production there would be acceptance testing of the item. This assures continuing quality but there would still be production issues during the acceptance testing. Acceptance testing is less rigorous than qualification. IDK if the auto industry is quite this rigorous as aircraft parts are far more expensive.
The exact same alternator used on an aircraft is far more expensive than the same as used on a car. The difference is testing.
In my field we have safety related/non safety related or code/non code parts. Difference generally nothing other than paper trail/price. Ive been involved in ripping out millions of dollars of equipment and man hours because someone in a office halfway around the world made a math error with a decimal. I'm just saying that blaming workmanship compared to whats spec’d by Ford or whatever the end user is the warranty problem. The biggest problem is trying to meet cafe standards by making stuff lighter and the damn bean counters.
 

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I doubt that a supplier could be held responsible for failed parts which were actually built to spec.
That should be easily provable.
Happened to Takata (seat belt/air bag supplier to Honda/Mitsubishi) crap ton of recalls, and ended up getting sued by the US and a couple of other countries.
 

wanted33

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As your Icon might say..."DON'T PANIC!".....
Sounds like a reasonable incentive for suppliers to watch their quality control and provide trouble free parts to Ford.
That's my line of thinking also Floyd. I think suppliers should be held somewhat accountable for the quality of their products also. In my second life I worked for a Fortune 500 company, and saw what poor supplier quality can do to the bottom line. Just look at the Takata air bag situation. If these supplier's know their bottom line could be affected they'll do a better job at quality control.

I also agree that there will have to be limitations on what Ford can call a supplier quality problem. Like all other car manufacturers Ford will nickel, and dime something to the point of obscurity. And, still charge their customers out the wazoo for that product.
 
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P. A. Schilke

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That's my line of thinking also Floyd. I think suppliers should be held somewhat accountable for the quality of their products also. In my second life I worked for a Fortune 500 company, and saw what poor supplier quality can do to the bottom line. Just look at the Takata air bag situation. If these supplier's know their bottom line could be affected they'll do a better job at quality control.

I also agree that there will have to be limitations on what Ford can call a supplier quality problem. Like all other car manufacturers Ford will nickel, and dime something to the point of obscurity. And, still charge their customers out the wazoo for that product.
Hi Jim,

Having dealt with Suppliers for much of my 30 year career in Ford Light Truck Engineering, Supplier quality is always an issue. We had a whole area at Body & Assembly called SQA...Supplier Quality Assurance that was kept very busy with supplier issues. Ford contracts with suppliers usually includes that if there is a Recall due to the quality of their components/systems the supplier is on the hook for the cost of the recall. We have a huge test lab at Ford that did much of our validation testing but also got involved with quality issues and our understanding of the impact on the product of the supplier quality issue. Many of my back stories involve supplier quality.

To say that it is Ford changing specs to cause the majority of problems is just flat wrong. If we changed specs of system and components, there is a whole raft of validation testing required. I have spent $millions on validation only to halt testing due to unsatisfactory performance. Do we get bit on small sample size...on rare occasion it happens. There was always some rationalization of "it is just a onezee"... There is no onezee. You have a problem one time...there is likely a problem.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
 

HenryMac

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Geeze tough crowd.

If you hate Ford, why are you buying their products?

Capitalism would work better if you only bought from a company that you liked. Or is it maybe you are buying from the company you hate the least?
 

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Or is it maybe you are buying from the company you hate the least?
Actually it probably is this for most of us.

I have to admit I read the title of that article "Ford’s new CEO tackles warranty costs in bid to boost profit" and my first thought wasn't that it was about the suppliers. My first thought was that Ford Corporate is going to start putting on the boxing gloves regarding consumer warranty claims and start rejecting more claims left and right.

Ford PR tried to steer the article to be about their suppliers. But you can bet your ass there's much more to it internally. The numbers show they are losing their ass to warranty claims. I hate to be the cynic for the group but I seriously expect it to start being much harder to get a repair done, particularly big, expensive or difficult to track down repairs.
 

P. A. Schilke

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Actually it probably is this for most of us.

I have to admit I read the title of that article "Ford’s new CEO tackles warranty costs in bid to boost profit" and my first thought wasn't that it was about the suppliers. My first thought was that Ford Corporate is going to start putting on the boxing gloves regarding consumer warranty claims and start rejecting more claims left and right.

Ford PR tried to steer the article to be about their suppliers. But you can bet your ass there's much more to it internally. The numbers show they are losing their ass to warranty claims. I hate to be the cynic for the group but I seriously expect it to start being much harder to get a repair done, particularly big, expensive or difficult to track down repairs.
Hi Zaph,

Farley is from Toyota but he is a Road Racer...owns a Lola sports racer that he drives. I am hopeful that your speculation is wrong, but have no data to back that up... I hope he is all about getting the job done right, be it supplier or Ford engineering.

I sit on the sidelines on this one but with Hackett...I knew that building Steelcase office furniture would not work. Glad Farley is a car guy. We will see. Tenure as Ford's top dog is a very tenuous position.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
 

HenryMac

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Actually it probably is this for most of us.

I have to admit I read the title of that article "Ford’s new CEO tackles warranty costs in bid to boost profit" and my first thought wasn't that it was about the suppliers. My first thought was that Ford Corporate is going to start putting on the boxing gloves regarding consumer warranty claims and start rejecting more claims left and right.

Ford PR tried to steer the article to be about their suppliers. But you can bet your ass there's much more to it internally. The numbers show they are losing their ass to warranty claims. I hate to be the cynic for the group but I seriously expect it to start being much harder to get a repair done, particularly big, expensive or difficult to track down repairs.
Sorry Sir, but that (insert modification) voided your warranty.

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