Let's face facts: the days when Ford was a great place to work, when it respected its employees, and when all of us were proud to say we worked here are gone. They are gone for good. Too much has changed in the company and beyond to ever get to that point again. If you are old enough to remember those times, then you only have a few years left before retirement. Accept that things have changed and start counting down the days until you're free of what this once great company has morphed into. Hoping things will improve is pointless. I've been much happier since I accepted reality.
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Last poster, that is interesting. You bring up a good point. I was tasked a few years ago with standing up a set of systems that were outside of Ford's approved technologies. I spent all of my time preparing presentations to get LL3+ approval for the technologies since it was a lift and carry from what a previous company had done for us. It was sad that this other company had the flexibility to do what we literally spent millions of dollars to get approved. When we are spending more time on approvals than we are on the actual work someone should step back and ask why?
@3bub+1gVmsDPI FMC has a lot of processes and procedures in place, but mostly outdated or not useful at all. This is not the fault of the employees, but management's. For example, a few years ago, I was tasked with a very complicated project (while still juggling my regular workload). I was able to deliver the results in time, and I asked my LL6 a couple of days to put in writing all the detailed steps I did to accomplish the task, while it was still fresh in my mind. My manager didn't approved, because there was already another "hot potato" I had to deal with (another "critical" task).
Then the SRD in 2019 came, and with the reorg, I ended in another team. To be honest, I have been more concerned with all the layoffs, the unvaxxed firings, the reorgs, than with the fact that nobody else in the company can duplicate what I did because of lack of documentation. BTW, my solution still is working fine, and probably that's why nobody have asked about the documentation (yet).
The idea of being a manager is to provide the tools, expertise, guidance and support for the workers to do their job with the best quality. Most of the LL6s have no clue how to do their jobs, and some of them are a danger for the company.
@3bub+1gVmsDPI ... what makes it bureaucratic is that the Wrong processes and procedures had been put into place. when long term employees (not LL2 or LL3) try to improve them, they get pushback and called a non-team player and a non-process follower. you only have so many hours in the day to deal with process bureaucrats who think they know more than the people doing the work every day.
A lot of that "deer in headlights" is due to long term employees not putting in place processes and procedures. Ford's system is heavily bureaucratic but also lacks any direction on what the process flow is. It's impossible for a 6 month employee to be effective without hand holding from others.
Hackett's plan was to destroy Ford from the inside so long term employees would leave and thus he could hire impressionable young children that would unquestionably follow and worship him as the great thinker he considered himself. When the long term employees did not all head for the exit, he and our pathetic executive mgt started the purge strategy because that is the extent of their great intelligence. Fast forward and you see all the quality and launch issues that have occurred and will continue. And it will get worse. They just can't connect the dots with the vehicle development cycle that what you do to your people today, directly correlates with what rolls off the assembly line in 2-3-4 years. Dump your experience and bring in the clueless. Oh and make no mistake, they ARE clueless. All these so called tech God children, are now over their heads and like deer caught in headlights. All I keep hearing is how shocked they are with how complicated the automotive industry is. That they really have no idea what to do and don't want to spend years trying to learn and plan to leave for something easier because the work is too stressful.
Dude. You drank ALL the koolaid.
"I'm sure management has a plan"
"We will make money selling data"
Yep that's right. Any data from Ford, one of the lowest quality makers on the market, is worth less than zero.
At least your future can be in comedy because you are far from reality. Ford data is only valuable to other automakers to try to Ford steal customers with better products and actual well thought out (non woke) processes.
Agree 1000% poster who said how badly Hackett demotivated and demoralized Ford employees. Books need to be written how the brilliant egg head was intended to save us but just couldn't muster a bunt. If Ford goes under, the beginning of the end started with him, and those who let him in the door.
@1sqp+1gVmsDPI It doesn't matter how many times you and upper management say the apple will fall upward, the reality is the apple keeps falling DOWN.
So FMC is going to become a data and software company? And compete with Google while using the Google Cloud? Or compete with Twitter/Facebook/TikTok using Farley's podcast? Maybe competing with Disney/Apple because we got a couple of executives from those companies? Any company in Silicon Valley can run circles around us.
Numbers don't lie. We used to make more billions and spend less every quarter. When a company makes $10K in profit by selling a product (F-150), doesn't need to sell as much as when the product (data) cost pennies (A valid SSN cost $4 in the dark web). So instead of selling 140 millions of vehicles annually, FMC needs to sell 35 BILLIONS of customer data. Since is going to take years to reach that number of living human beings, and possible many more years for those to buy a Ford, I don't see how Ford can replace manufacturing with data mining.
There is no worse blind man than the one who doesn’t want to see. There is no worse deaf man than the one who doesn’t want to hear. And there is no worse madman than the one who doesn’t want to understand. Keep drinking the Kool Aid and you'll wake up one day with no job.
What the previous comment is saying is false. The data space is more than large enough to accommodate customers for Ford's corporate goals. Did you read the story I referenced that was recently posted on our home page? I am sure Doug Field and the model E leadership are way ahead of you and have the revenue plan developed. As for entities, here is a hint, look at from which companies new Ford leadership has come from recently.
@1cds
You’ve had too much of the kool aid. Do the math. We don’t have enough customers to sell subscriptions, and there are not enough subscription services or a high enough take rate to be financially viable. I challenge you to name one entity that is buying any data from Ford.
No. Mach-E is a mess. At least in one LL4s area (CV cloud). Management by fear. Good people leaving daily. Rogue LL4s verbally berating people. Anyone that claims Mach-E are good times is either lying or ignorant. Or both.
I disagree with the OP. Although it may be different from where you stand, if you are in model E and the activities that support model E, then the good times are certainly right now. It is exciting times! I strongly recommend you read closely the atFord article recently published about our Data/Analytics Command Center and how it will push Ford into the future and how our business with profit.
As you know by now, we are transforming to become a data and software company as our first priority.
I so agree is it went downhill when JH came in and worse when JF came in after. I just see the company spending so much money starting with the train station, Dearborn transformation, and building battery plant in KY. Where is all the money coming from? We have cars sitting on lots all over the place that we can't complete and sell because we can't get the chips.
If you mean the good ol' days where our products were on par quality wise with the rest of the industry, then I agree. If we have built a culture of "get it out first!". Safety. Quality. All second thoughts. Keep everything green to avoid getting yelled at and retribution being taken.
Someone mentioned the Firestone tires. Not really Ford's fault but we have now followed that up with even worse quality issues and now people look back and just think it is more of the same.
And the problem with Lincoln is we wanted to sell luxury cars but never wanted to have a luxury car buying experience. Lipstick on a pig is exactly the right analogy.
To me, a 30 year employee, the love of the company by employees left when Hackett came into power. He demotivated all the employees and turned what Mulally had beautifully created into a back-stabbing company where no one cared about Ford any longer. The company WILL NOT come back to those days.
My LL3 once said during a SRD meeting......they should let go of Lincoln instead of employees ...... he said matthew mcconaughey on lincoln is like a lipstick on a pig.....still a pig.
(to the extra woke people who think I am being derogatory towards women....F-U, I am just using a phrase used since 100s of years)
@@dkv+1gVmsDPI
Sorry but pre 2000 even our xross town rivals were making money. Anyone putting a wheel on a car could have made money. The Explorer fiasco (tire) set the company back at least 1 if not 2 total cycle plans as we could have easily invested in other product. Ford took the hit - BF did what was lauded as the right thing but it cost the company dearly.
The companies had a lot of misses besides launches in the form of bad product planning such as staying with small sharty Focuses out of Wayne assy when GM went back to work on their big SUV lineup and launched in 2015' we were way behind the 8 ball still playing catchup.
Sinking a king's ransom into rebuilding Lincoln's brand and paying Matthew to market it has not paid any dividends to date.
Sorry to say this POST is 100%. It was a very different company prior to Ford 2000. We had a great product portfolio that made money. Then came Ford 2000 and we struggled lucky we had some of that product to carry us over. But as many of you know when the explorer sales started to tank, we never really recovered from that. Our product launches have been a disaster since 2000. AM came in yes that was a bright time frame. but those types of leaders are generational.
It was a great company to work for back then. I just don't see the momentum we had back then. Family dictating what direction to go. Sorry but BF is not a leader. Keep an eye on the train station. If another senior executive brought that up. They would be gone by now. Just shows how out of touch we are with our customers.
I have never seen the morale so bad as I do now. The lack of faith and trust in senior management is at an all-time low. Glad I left in 2020. But my old dept. people are leaving. All age groups.
These things will happen.