Ford to workers: Share a new idea

[shugah]

Ford to workers: Share a new idea
Mailing seeks bold ways to boost sales
January 16, 2006

Ford Motor Co., stepping up efforts to boost innovation and revamp its stodgy top-down culture, has begun mailing a 12-page brochure -- including a detachable, postage-paid response card -- to every Ford employee and dealership in North America.

The brochures, to arrive this week at employees' homes, are intended to spark a wave of innovative ideas to add to the more than 1,000 that salaried Ford employees have submitted since November via an internal Web site.

Chief Executive Officer Bill Ford has asked for a report on some of the best ideas so far, which he may discuss with top executives as early as next Monday, the day of the company's much-anticipated restructuring announcement.

While keeping mum on details of the restructuring, Ford executives are urging journalists not to portray it simply as a cost-cutting plan, but rather as a sweeping effort to energize the company around building bold, new products and boosting sales, even as auto-building capacity shrinks to reflect Ford's smaller share of the U.S. market.

Ford's U.S. sales have dropped from more than 4 million vehicles in 2000 to 2.95 million last year.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006601160340

[ixion]

1. hmmmm... how about making good products?

:shrug: ...and how about not treating your employees like so much rabble. I think that would be a good start.

[xultar]

5. You beat me to it.

[trogdor]

11. And me.

I would have been more blunt about it, like "how 'bout making a car that lasts longer than the monthly payments for a change."

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

22. Ford DOES make good products.

They're called "Volvos." :)

[Cronus Protagonist]

34. My Mustang is a GREAT car!

Truly. Great.

[SpeedwayDemocrat]

37. The '05 Mustang ROCKS!

Every single day, I get people commenting on how cool it looks, wishing they had one, etc.
I always like to tell them that "Yeah, the UAW puts together one hell of a great car - you should buy one!" The baby boomers love it because it reminds them on the 1967 models and the high schools just think it's cool to look at. Ford should consider more retro styling like this one...

[tabasco]

28. I wonder if this is one of the winning suggestions.

I just had to sell my Ranger for $500 bucks because it was falling apart and I did not want to sink even more money into a lemon.

76,000 miles and it was falling apart.

The first week I owned the truck it broke down. The dealership I took it to (not where I bought it) treated me like crap and wouldn'teven give me a loaner!!

I now owen a Toyota, which I bought used. When I took it to a dealer for service, they gave me a loaner - NO PROBLEM.

I can confidently say I will never buy another Ford.

Making a good product. Treating customers like royalty. Simple business maxims that Ford has ignored.

[Magrittes Pipe]

40. Ford has been making good products for decades.

They're called trucks. ;)

For the past 15 or 20 years, Ford has also been making good cars. Trouble is, they've been UGLY. Now, Ford is making the right step with vehicles like the Fusion and the (upcoming for the 2007 model year) Edge. The tri-bar chrome grill, the wedge design, seamless interior fit and finish -- these are the kind of cars we should have been making for years.

Ford's products today run the gamut: small and mid-size cars like the Focus and Fusion (built respectively on the Mazda 3 and Mazda 6 platforms, with the same Duratec engines used in the Mazdas), big cars like the Freestyle and Five Hundred built on the Volvo platform. Trucks and SUVs with Hybrid and Flex Fuel (can run on Ethanol) technology.

Etc.

[Catch22Dem]

2. Nothing wrong with this, in my opinion...

Sometimes the best ideas come from employees who've been mulling something over in their heads for years and just never told anyone about it. Japanese companies have been doing this for a quarter century.

[0007]

6. That's true. I hear they're sending all the CEO's to listening school

Screw the worker. Reward the CEO.
:sarcasm:

[xultar]

3. ummmmmm....how about lose those blue hair car designs

[0007]

4. How come I like the Toyota better than the Ford?

How come one sees more Toyota's on the road than Fords?

[Born Free]

31. better PR

foreign manufacturers work the magazines and news much in the way the bush team works the papers, it's all PR . FORD could make the best product on the market and most people would refuse to try it because they have been programmed to believe anything made in USA is not and can not be as good as "foreign made". FORD trucks are number one in sales, only because the foreign competition has not yet convinced Americans that "foreign made" is the only way to go. A person buys an product made in USA they will bitch at every Little fault while they turn their heads at anything wrong with the foreign made products. It's no different than dealing with the people that continue to support the bush team, they are blinded by their love of bush and their hatred of anything else. Ironic that people who do the research and know what is going on can spot the PR (BS) from the bush team, but those same people will buy into the PR of the products they buy and use to live. A people that keep buying "Wal-Mart" products will end up working for "Wal-Mart"

Disclaimer: I do not usually buy FORDS, I think they are great, but I prefer GM and Chrysler products.

[0007]

42. The proof is in the pudding and not in PR or advisements

[MUAD_DIB]

7. Has this ever worked?

I have heard of this before and even witnessed it firsthand, but when a company starts to ask its workers for ideas you know they are in trouble.

I have never seen this work in practice.


The company may ask for input, but they usually screw up the process.


There's always hope, though...

[bleedingheart]

9. I have seen it happen....and it sometimes works very well

but only in cases where management isn't threatend by the new ideas. It also works if the employee is compensated for their idea...the more liberal programs will give you a percentage cut of the cost savings as a reward...come up with a million dollar idea and you might walk away with a $10,000 bonus.

Have a group of overlord type managers and it won't work...because they will spend their time picking apart the new ideas...

[Ben Ceremos]

19. Harley-Davidson,

producer of ugly and loud motorcycles has a very positive result from coordinating the assembly line with product demand, all THANKS TO THEIR WORKERS.I HAVE HARDLY SEEN A BETTER ARGUMENT FOR WORKER OWNERSHIP of the means of production. Workers of the world unite!

[skids]

24. Not just companies....

...SEIU recently did a good job of screwing up on this too in their sinceslicedbread contest. Seems that the folks at the top of just about anything need a bit more than to be exposed to good ideas... they'll just squelch them and use the results to support whatever pet projects they can find justification for based on the submissions.

It would be nice for once to see it done right, though. Best of luck to them, even if they have been an obstacle to progress.

[bleedingheart]

8. Top Executive uses your Idea and Makes Millions ..you get squat

or maybe a mug with the Ford logo on it.

[stepnw1f]

10. So Now the Little Guy Will Bail Out the Big Guy

Yet their pensions will be cut and the CEO's get a raise. Sickening....

On their next check stub:

"Donate your ideas.. pretty please."

[Toots]

26. And the CEO will donate to the GOP which in turn passes laws to hurt the

little guy who is supposed to buy their stupid cars. If they were smart cars they may sell better.

[kahleefornia]

12. three letters

M.P.G.

[sarcasmo]

13. Here is an idea, PLEASE sell the Lions. Us Lions fans have suffered

enough. Forty Super Bowls and no trips by the Lions. The leadership starts at the top and these current Fords will run this company further into the ground.

[semillama]

15. HEAR HEAR!!!

then, do something car related.


i guess.



(Seriously, hybrids. Set out to make the top hybrids, set out to make hybrids standard for your most affordable cars, adopt the new algae scrubbing technology at all plants (including the Mexican ones).)

[MrPrax]

14. How innovative...

how cutting-edge for Ford to set the standards by introducing the 'employee suggestion box'.

[bleedingheart]

16. Produce an affordable, fuel efficient, reliable car that doesn't cost too

much....

What you do with the exterior is your own design...but there are millions of americans like myself who don't want to go deeply into debt with car payments and we don't recycle our cars every two years...we use them until they die.

[superconnected]

17. sounds like legal intellectual property theft

They are going to take the really good ideas, make millions and give the dedicated employee a mug and then a pink slip with the rest of his co-workers when they move their ultra-more-profitable factory to mexico.

I've worked at plenty of places where if you invented anything there, they had the legal right to your inventions. Sounds like fords milking their employees for those patents. Their employees will likely offer them up like good dogs bring their master a bone.

[barb162]

25. That's how I am thinking about it. At least tell the employees

they will get $$$ for their ideas and if something gets patented, the employee gets a large share.

[Hyernel]

18. How 'bout some damn flying cars!!!!

I'm tired of waiting.

[Hoooweee]

20. Let a hundred flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend

It didn't work for China very well. Good luck Ford.

[MindPilot]

21. the ones going to the dealerships will never see the light of day

Dealership management HATES this kind of stuff with a passion. Anyone who threatens the status quo--especially in the service dept--will be immediately dispatched to the unemployment line.

Trust me, I spent twenty years as a Ford tech.

[Javaman]

23. My latest rant about ford...

You know, it appears as if the U.S. auto makers are finally coming out of their collective fog regarding hybrids. That, of course, is to late but ford finally puts out (or is putting out) a hybrid called the REFLEX. It's a hybrid diesel/electric vehicle. One problem. It's a 2 door sports car. WTF???? This thing costs a fortune. It gets great fuel mileage but at the cost they are asking, the average person is SOL. This in a nut shell is why Toyota is making a killing in the U.S. market. Although their hybrids are still on the pricey side they are far more affordable than the toy of the week Ford, or other makers of the same ilk, put out.

If the U.S. auto makers want to make money and attract buyers, build an affordable hybrid car for the general population. Henry Ford, like him or not, used that same concept when he put out the model T.

If they ever got a clue and did that, they would make a fortune.

I'm looking at a Honda Civic Hybrid, but frankly, I'm willing to suck it up until someone puts out an affordable diesel/electric hybrid. Screw the oil companies, once I get that kind of hybrid, I go all biodiesel.

They are pigs, stupid disconnected pigs.

Rant off.

:rant:

[Magrittes Pipe]

39. The Reflex is a concept car.

It's not destined for production. The idea is to say "look, we can do diesel/electric hybrids."

Till something like that comes out, get a Civic hybrid, a Prius, or (if you need the extra room) a Ford Escape Hybrid. Or just get a Volkswagen TDI and go straight biodiesel. There are a lot of options out there to wean yourself off of oil.

[WinkyDink]

27. For FREE??!

Yeah, right.

[Voltaire99]

29. "Bold, new products"

Sure they will. Like:

--Make grills bigger so the front of the car looks like a rampaging rhino.
--Come up with new names that sound like a cross between steroid brands and military operations.
--Increase the number of cup holders!

Even those bold moves might not be enough. William Kunstler thinks 2006 could take down both GM and Ford.

[Glidescube]

30. Copy Toyota's play book VERBATIM

They know how to play the game like a pro so play it thier way. Make thier moves your moves.

[Citrene]

32. Has anyone ever heard of a carburetor that gets many miles to the gallon?

I knew someone quite well who worked for someone that had invented one and Ford bought his design and patent rights. Never made it to market, wonder why?

[Glidescube]

33. Urban legend

Along with the car that ran on water.

But since Legends and myths are almost always based on truth I would wager that such a carburetor never left the model stage and it was this toy/model that was getting that gas milage and not a full size car.

[Citrene]

35. Urban legend? Right. Should have known.

Only problem, I was married to one of the urban legends.

[Nomen Tuum]

36. Hey, Ford, does the word "HYBRID" ring a bell?

Well, we're waiting!

[dolo amber]

38. ...

http://www.fordvehicles.com/escapehybrid/home/

Also, the Fusion which is a mid-size sedan will be released in a hybrid model in '08.

[boise1]

41. Here is one reason I will never purchase a Ford in this town

Have I driven a Ford Lately?

(My like-new '93 Toyota and the continuing level of first class service I get from the dealer is the other)