Ford Motor Company President Visits Essex Ford
Essex Ford were proud hosts this week to Ford Motor Company's strategist and CEO, Alan Mulally. Mr Mulally CEO and President of Ford Motor Company (Worldwide) visited Essex Ford Dunton (near Basildon) along with senior directors and management from Ford of Britain and Ford of Europe. The purpose of the visit was for Mr Mulally to meet with some of Ford of Britain's elite dealers, senior management and chairman.
Philip Maskell, Chairman / M.D of Essex Ford, led Mr Mulally, Nigel Sharp (M.D Ford of Britain), Stephen Odell (CEO Ford of Europe) on a tour of his class leading, role model Ford dealership at Dunton, Essex. Mulally took time to meet with several members of staff and enthused wildly at the facility and first class retailing standards on display.
Mulally stopped to talk to Alan Keevil, asking him about his length of service with Essex Ford, Keevil answers "19 years but before that I been employed with Ford so in some ways I considered that I still worked for them. Mulally then asked about the product and I was able to say "I am not being artificially nice to you when I tell the product is superb, we do have fantastic product". The Ford CEO then talked about the iminent new C Max and 2011 Focus, of which he was clearly very proud.
Keevil went on "This was easily the most powerful and significant man I have ever met, and a day I will never forget. There is something more important though. The top man in Ford has flown across the Atlantic, Essex Ford has been chosen as the dealer to host his visit and we have "blown the socks off of him", and I am extremely proud of that. One final point, with all the doom and gloom in the world isn't it great when the most powerful and important man you have ever met turns out to be such a "gentleman".
18 year old Apprentice, Sarah Jackson, a First Year Vehicle Technician, was also one of the privileged to meet Alan Mulally "He came across as a really nice person" explained Ms Jackson, "he was not how I imagined, he was really grounded and genuinely interested in what I did, he asked what made me decide to do an apprenticeship with Ford and how I found the vehicles". Ms Jackson went on to say that his visit, presence and attention had made her and colleagues feel proud to work for Ford.
Later, Alan Mulally spent time with the assembled elite dealers to describe the ONE Ford strategy, including the ONE Ford Global Product Development system, which is expanding Ford's vehicle range, reinforcing the company's position in mature markets and accelerating growth in emerging markets.
He emphasised the value of Ford's UK presence as a major pillar of Ford's global structure: "It has a global role and one that can grow in importance".
Alan Mulally highlighted the significance of Ford's UK powertrain engineering and manufacturing expertise. "Ford in Britain can produce two million engines a year including the latest low-CO2 technology petrol engines from Ford Bridgend in Wales and highly-efficient diesel engines from Ford Dagenham in London.
"One-third of Ford cars globally are powered by engines manufactured and engineered in Britain."
Ford's UK footprint
Ford's Dunton Technical Centre (adjacent to Essex Ford) with its responsibilities for both powertrain and commercial engineering, is the largest facility of its type in the UK and it is a key contributor to Ford being the UK's 11th largest R&D investor across all sectors.
The UK is the second largest market for Ford vehicles outside the US "again emphasising the country's global significance for Ford" and it has been the UK car market leader 33 years.
In 2011 Ford of Britain celebrates its centenary and the 100th year of manufacturing in the UK. This historic event is being matched by Ford's commitment to a £1.5 billion investment programme over the next five years in low-CO2 manufacturing and engineering facilities at Bridgend, Dagenham, Dunton and Southampton
Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally today told British business leaders how he saved Ford from the worst recession for a generation. He also outlined how the Ford range will shrink from 97 models sold globally to just 20.
Mulally told leading dealer group chairman, Philip Maskell (Essex Ford), Robert Forrester (Vertu Motors), Bob Grant (M.D Ford Retail) amongst others how Ford became the only Detroit car maker not to collapse into bankruptcy. His address was titled Ford's Renaissance.
Just 20 Ford models globally? That's some cut!
Indeed. It's all part of the One Ford plan kicked off by Mulally soon after his appointment in 2006. 'We decided to focus on the Ford brand and divest Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo and dilute our stake in Mazda,' he said. 'Not because they weren't great brands but because we had to focus on Ford that was 85% of our business.'
Mulally said the new Fiesta achieved 60% parts commonality around the globe - while the new 2011 Focus managed 80%.
'When I arrived we had 97 different nameplates around the world - but we're moving to less than 30, on the way to 20 to 25.'
He said that the streamlined range cut away wasteful duplication yet 'still covers 100% of the markets worldwide.' Mulally said the efficiencies were felt across the board, from reduced R&D costs to lower supplier bills - transforming Ford from a chubby, uncompetitive car maker to a much leaner, more aggressive manufacturer.
What else has Mulally done to transform Ford?
The Blue Oval CEO admitted the business was overcomplicated and his priority has been on simplification and focus. Mulally said he drew many parallels between his old employer, Boeing, and Ford; he realised that the plane manufacturer didn't sell different 737s around the world, so why should Ford produce different small cars globally.
He sought inspiration in a 1925 newspaper ad by Henry Ford, titled 'Opening the highways for all mankind'. 'He wanted to make automobiles and highways affordable for all of us, and that's Ford's aim once again,' said Mulally.
He talked of closing excess plants in the US soon after his appointment as he sought to balance supply and demand, but claimed that since new union deals with the UAW he was now reopening shuttered truck plants as car factories and making them profitable.
Ford was the only Big Three car maker in Detroit not to go bust. Is the credit Mulally's?
He has to take the lion's share of the credit. He admitted the economic crisis took Ford to the brink and said he persuaded New York bankers to loan the company $23.5 billion to avoid taking government bail-outs. 'We had originally asked to borrow $10bn,' Mulally said.
He acknowledged that Americans respected Ford for dodging bankruptcy and that sales boomed as a result. But he warned that Ford shared 70% of the supplier base with imperilled GM and Chrysler and 'the recession could have turned into depression.'
A Proud Day for Essex Ford
Philip Maskell said after Mr Mulally's visit that it had been a proud day for him, his team and Essex Auto Group. " It was great pride point for us to be the only Dealer in Britain to be selected for such a high level visit", Maskell went onto say "He was blown away by the facility at Essex Ford Dunton and the staff - he said to me "Philip you have a fantastic store and great people"....... The whole visit went to plan and the site looked at its very best.
Ford of Britain were equally enthused about the visit, meeting and hosts Essex Ford. John Wellsman, Sales Director, Ford of Britain told Essex Ford Chairman,Philip Maskell, "Philip, a sincere thank you also to you and your team for hosting the Alan Mulally dealer meeting today at Essex Ford. In a word - perfection. I realise this does not happen by chance and appreciate the effort and attention to detail expended by the Essex Ford team. You will have left a lasting and very positive impression with him which he will take back to the US".
Mr Mulally and the Ford team also left an indelible mark on the Essex Ford team which only served to highlight and enforce the companies commitment to doing it even better for you...
