- Ford is testing a new quality inspection process at its Kentucky assembly plant.
- The plant is responsible for building the next-generation Super Duty pickup truck.
- Ford has added about 300 quality inspectors to catch problems before the models leave the plant.
Ford's quality problems with new vehicles are well known. It's no coincidence that the company had the most recalls in 2022; the initial quality of its products is problematic.
Even Jim Farley, the company's CEO, has acknowledged this. He's even aware that it's going to take time to fix it, mentioning that the work is sometimes uneven from plant to plant.
See also: Ford's top boss recognizes that the company has issues to address.
At Ford's Kentucky plant, where the Super Duty pickup is assembled, a first step has been taken to improve quality. A process has been put in place that allows problems to be addressed at the plant rather than having to be repaired later. But it requires a costly shutdown of the assembly line. Ford executives are convinced that investing more in early detection of quality problems will pay off in the long run.
They're trying to avoid production stoppages, of course, but as part of this new approach, plant manager Joseph Closurdo says he shut down production for three days earlier this year. The move gave engineers and suppliers time to fix faulty components discovered as workers began building the next generation of models.
"We would shut the build down if we weren't meeting one of the targets" Joseph Closurdo said last week.
It's a way of doing things that, in principle, should reduce the number of problems after launch. And with the Super Duty pickup, we're talking about a very important and profitable product. The vehicle is critical to Ford meeting its profitability targets this year. Super Duty pickups are among the most profitable vehicles Ford sells, generating billions of dollars in annual profits, according to analyst estimates.
The automaker will report its first-quarter earnings this afternoon (Tuesday) after the New York Stock Exchange closes.
Regarding the goal of improving quality, Andrew Kernahan, chief engineer for the Super Duty line, told Reuters: "We set a standard that the new product is better than the one that came out. We don't start delivering until we see consistent results against those goals. That has taken longer than we expected."
Interestingly, the Kentucky plant has added 300 quality inspectors and more engineers to look for the root causes of defects and to design new digital tools to detect problems before models leave the production line.
For example, workers now use a camera to transmit images of electrical connections to software that can determine whether connectors are properly mated.
Throughout the plant, engineers have built command centres with screens that display data from various assembly stations. The real goal is to catch problems before the model leaves the factory.
Then, instead of testing just a few vehicles for squeaks, rattles, or multimedia system failures, it was decided to have workers drive some 28,000 new-generation Super Duty vehicles along a 40-kilometre route near the plant.
This was also done in stages, starting with production of the simpler models in the range, followed by the more complex models (those with more features).
Lessons learned from the Super Duty launch process will be shared with the plants that will build the next new Ford vehicles. The Super Duty process will be the company's benchmark for quality.
How soon will we see concrete results in the brand's products? We don't know yet, but we're taking a step in the right direction.