I left Ford nearly 20 years ago. A friend told me Ford and GM no longer respect Mechanical Engineers - they just want EE and Software Engineers. WTF? Are any mechanical engineers high demand/high pay?
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Ford has been sending these jobs out of country for sometime and it will not stop because its about cheap labor. Car companies are looking for cheap labor to create cheaply designed/engineered/manufactured at the highest price.
they sure could use some MEs working on the quality problems! and a lot of electrical quality is based on mechanical quality.
Jim Farley twice threw his engineers under the bus in media interviews in 2022. Way to go CEO. 1000 Ford employees, many engineers , left in November 2022 without incentive package((other than pending interest rate rise) to get respect elsewhere at another company or to retire early.
Look it up. Bloomberg interview Feb 2022, yahoo news interview sept 2022.
Maybe you’ll get some respect when you can figure out how bolts you need to keep the real axel from falling out of an Explorer
The mechanical aspect of vehicles has become commoditized. Very little innovation in the past 15 years once engine efficiency was normalized. The mechanical aspect of vehicles is much more influenced by bean counters hitting a cost point and they accept the quality tradeoff. It’s unfortunate, the price of vehicles keeps going up but quality get worse as it’s all cr-p software feature they add that have nothing to do with getting from A to B.
This true in many companies. EE are in high demand because the can do more programming and mechanical process as well. Why hire 2 people for the jobs when 1 EE can do both jobs.
The issue is not with ME's per se, Apple, Tesla, BMW, Mercedes, Hyundai, Toyota, etc. employ 1000s of ME's. The issue at Ford is that Ford manufacturing in specific has been slow to adapt to be faster and nimble. Mfg Div for a long time was a pampered division that could not do wrong, but when Ford starting to benchmark against Tesla then it was clear that Mfg Div was a BIG problem. At PTME was an engineer who was famous for his tantrums "if you do not give PTME that tolerance you do no have a program" he rejected innovation at PTME plants, he always played very safe even if that approach would make the vehicle heavier and more heads would be needed.
In a recent cost study for Gears, PTME quoted that they require 5 times more headcount than suppliers in India or China. In the past it was not a big deal, PD had to find ways to compensate extra PTME cost (MCR, TVM, etc.) Model e is not using PTME plants and their Mfg Div is independent of Ford Blue, but still Old PTME folks are in top positions dragging down Ford Blue.
When JT or DF refer to ME's they are referring o Mfg Engs. Even Muno in his videos, he mentions how obsolete Ford Mfg Div. is.
If you check Ford Upper Mgmt positions, most of them are ME's even Doug.
For those who are old enough to remember, Ford invited Ellie Goldrath author of "The Goal", so Ford Mfg could be more nimble, then tried to follow Toyota with JIT methodology, now is Kaisen, etc.
The issue is that Upper Mgmt. regardless of their technical background are a bunch of useless individuals. JT, KG, BF, etc. Ford needs to hire external talent like they did with Alan Mullaly, internally developed LL's have been proven useless
Mullaly saved Ford from Ford Family (WCF,BF) but BF could not stand his heir, MF, and hired a bunch of Yes men like WH and JF.
Ford is a 100% Family owned company that trades in Wall Street, even if Musk buys all Ford public stock he would not have any voice directing Ford.
The only way Ford will change is when Wall Street tighten the bolts at BF otherwise we will continue complaining about lack of leadership at Ford
Ok China spam bot. Be gone
Mechanical engineers have never been respected. They don’t deserve it.
The last of mechanical aptitude in the ranks is absolutely terrifying.
"this is an MBA and lawyer company now"
all the folks that don't produce squat
software engineers used to be second class citizens at ford. "we're a &#@# car company, whattya wanna write software for!?" don't worry, their work will be shipped to low cost countries too once things get stabilized. tech people of all kinds are 2nd class citizens at ford. this is an MBA and lawyer company now.
If battery engineers can develop a battery system don't age, no heat/short, high specific energy, and temperature insensitive, the car cost would be lowered significantly and truly great for environment.
Image an EV with no battery weight, no battery cooling, no heat pump, no battery tray, no BCU, no ...
If a mechanical engineering could design a battery tray that won’t get a dent in a minor accident they would save the insurance industry millions. Heavy sarcasm here.
'Most young Americans prefer to study things that allow them to express their artistic side such as Art or Literature.'
Or more than likely their parents were engineers and saw their jobs get insourced or outsourced byvery unskilled not terribly useful bankers. Then informed their children that engineering had no future. Hence the gutting of skilled labor in the US by banker clowns. Oh wait, didn't those same schools come out and say math was racist. The clowns in charge have gutted the US.
In certain area's engineers are not even operating as engineers but secretaries, clerks...
I wouldn't be surprised if some of the new engineers even know how to change a tire.
Ford is sending all engineering out to Brazil and other countries.
I couldn’t recommend to a young person that they become a mechanical engineer. Those jobs are all going to low cost countries.
You heard correctly. Software, subscription services, and data stores are what earn revenue for today's mobility companies. Mechanical hardware and the engineering that go with it are a known drain on a mobility companies bottom line.
I think we have very strong partnerships with our Chinese suppliers for most of that stuff. Most young Americans prefer to study things that allow them to express their artistic side such as Art or Literature. Or they choose fields such as psychology or gender studies to gain perepctives that are new to them. Young people today are our future. And they value the 'experience' far more than the 'grind'.
I am going long on ford stock...it's on a tear the past few days
What happens when the suppliers of chips for the glorious controller for the "thing" ceases to exist? More than a EE/ME problem, we have two very incompatible business models colliding here.
Because everything is controlled by electronics now, unfortunately. Brakes, gas, prndl... it's all a bunch of computer chips aside from the engine, drivetrain, and suspension, which we've already engineered the sh*t out of over decades.