Ford Looks To Simplify Organization

Reducing complexity is key to Ford Motor Co.'s turnaround, the company's top executive says. Since taking his post last September, Alan Mulally, president and CEO, has stressed the importance of simplifying the auto maker's massive global operations.

Everything from personnel to factories, vehicle architectures and the number of option packages offered on a particular car or truck is being streamlined.

“The thing that was the biggest ‘ah-hah’ was the complexity,” Mulally says about what surprised him the most in his first days as Ford CEO. “It is incredible the complexity in this industry. Customers aren't going to pay for that complexity.”

Over the next five years, Ford plans to trim the number of vehicle platforms to just 10, a 40% reduction, says Derrick Kuzak, group vice president-global product development.

“Within five years, 70% of our worldwide volume will be on those 10 platforms,” he says.

“On the engine side, we're reducing architectures. Our 6-cyl. (offerings) will go from eight to two over the next five years, and smaller engines will be reduced from 10 to three,” he says. “All of this is about attention to detail.”