Ford Called Worst in Choosing Suppliers

From the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News
http://www.activedayton.com/ddn/

Business Section (print)
30 May 2002

Ford Called Worst in Choosing Suppliers

Detroit – Ford Motor Company places more emphasis on cost than quality in choosing suppliers and is the worst of six major auto manufacturers in North America in making late engineering changes, according to the preliminary results of a study to be released next month.

The annual OEM / Supplier Benchmark Study was conducted by Birmingham based Planning Perspectives Inc. and includes responses by more than 225 suppliers, the company said.

But Ford says it is working with its suppliers to satisfy the need to both cut costs and improve quality.

"The only way we can meet our quality and cost objectives is by working in concert for our mutual benefit and, most importantly, for our customers," said a statement issued by Ford on Wednesday. "Our efforts have produced some progress and good results but we also are aware that there still is a great more to achieve."
<hr>The unsettling thing here is the headline. It gives the impression that Ford is choosing the wrong (bad) suppliers while the reality is Ford's priorities in choosing suppliers are screwed up. Nor does it mention Ford's attitude when Ford people 'work with' suppliers.

[tarheel]

Dealing with Ford is like trying to teach a pig to whistle. It doesn't work and it annoys the pig. I can't think of a customer in my 20 years of automotive that is more difficult to deal with. All the recalls and quality complaints are of their own making. They deserve all the bad publicity they get, maybe it will knock some sense into them.

[Marc]

tarheel said:

Dealing with Ford is like trying to teach a pig to whistle. It doesn't work and it annoys the pig.

I about fell off my chair laughing when I saw this! Good one!

[Atul Khandekar]

Haven't had any experience with Ford so far. Are they that bad?

[Roger Eastin]

Yeah, that quote reminded me of the Leo Kottke tune: When the Shrimps Learn to Whistle. That quote was taken from a speech by Kruschev back in the 50's when he stated the chances of Russian warships in the Bosporus. Where did the pig whistling phrase come from?

[Marc]

Atul Khandekar said:

Haven't had any experience with Ford so far. Are they that bad?

Depends upon your STA, I guess. My experiences have been fair to poor, but not a total nightmare. Normally they're confused enough that I have an edge.

[Roger Eastin]

Maybe the fact that the Big 3 can be registered to TS16949 (unlike QS9000) will help them with their STA function! Of course, maybe this is like teaching a pig to whistle after you fed it crackers! (I still like that teaching a pig to whistle thing.....)

[tarheel]

Wish I could remember where the pig thing came from, somewhere in my lost memory. I really hope the new management makes some changes, but I'm not to hopeful. I've worked with virtually all the Ford divisions, and they all have the same stupid concepts. I owned a F-150 pickup that had to go in for one of its many warranty recalls. Got the truck back, within 100 miles the engine blew up. They kept it for 5 weeks while they tried to figure out how to blame me so they would not have to pay for it. Eventually I went high enough in the chain to get it fixed, but traded it for a Toyota as soon as I got it back.



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