Dave Filipe, vice president, Vehicle Hardware Modules, talked to retirees recently about our products, our plan and how we are evolving in a changing industry.

“The urgency in our plan is all about staying ahead of the competition,” he said, at a virtual meeting of Ford Retired Engineering Executives (FREE).  “We have to turn the corner on quality, and we’re working on that, but also accelerate our cost reduction, complexity, speed to market and the ICE-to-BEV transition.  And we have some catching up to do because we’re seeing others innovate differently than we’ve done in the past.”

Filipe began by talking about Ford’s winning portfolio, highlighting the new Ford Bronco and Maverick, named North American SUV and Truck of the Year, respectively.

“The team continues to deliver amazing products that our customers want,” he said, noting that the company’s decision to exit sedans in North America has proven to be a wise one. “I know there were questions a few years back about why we were exiting the passenger car business, but we’ve taken a plant like Michigan Assembly that was making the Focus previously.  Now it’s making Bronco and Ranger and making a billion dollars a year in profit.”  

Filipe said Ford+ plan momentum is beginning to capture the attention of industry analysts and investors, but to play and win in today’s competitive marketplace, we have to move with a sense of urgency.

“Our industry is in the midst of disruption, and it’s more competitive than ever.  Look at the market cap of companies like Tesla at $1.02 trillion, Rivian at $75.6 billion and Lucid at $67.4 billion,” he said.  “Ford is crossing at $100 billion for the first time in a long time.”

As the company adds more connectivity, electrification, technology and services to Ford and Lincoln vehicles and their user experiences, Filipe said the Product Development (PD) Engineering teams are restructuring to disrupt and create products and services that customers cannot live without.

“That restructuring is happening through an effort called Project Conway that rearranges PD into three teams, enabling us to improve the vehicle as a whole system, instead of creating many individual components,” said Filipe.  “For example, it brings the software electronics group together all the way from the sensor, through the cloud, to the handset so that we can modernize our software approach.  And we have one chain of command to control priorities.”   

The transformation has already taken place in North America and Europe.  IMG is expected to complete Project Conway in the first quarter of this year and China in the fourth quarter of 2022.

“We haven’t been able to share all the expertise that we could have,” said Filipe.  “Now that we’ve combined, we’re seeing clear examples where we’re benefitting from improved systems engineering, reduced costs, reduced complexity, reduced connections, reduced brackets, better expertise consolidation, which is going to help us on the quality piece as well.”

Filipe provided examples illustrating the work being accomplished under the new restructuring.  One involves the cooling system for the F-150 Lightning.

“It was like spaghetti with a number of connectors because we had different teams – the cooling team, battery systems team, HVAC team – all tying in together in the one system,” he explained.  “With the reorganization, there’s a new team that manages the entire thermal system. They created a simplified concept, optimized the system and own all the attributes that go with it as well. They’ve come up with new technology that replaces much of what all those connectors were doing previously, and it will be part of our future programs for electrification.”  

Electrification is a key component of Ford’s plan, and Filipe went on to brief retirees on what Ford is doing in Tennessee and Kentucky with BlueOval City and the BlueOval SK Battery Park.

“I can’t remember the last time we announced the opening of a new Vehicle Operations (VO) site in North America, and I think it’s a clear reflection of how the company is pivoting where we’re going – to continue to win in ICE but be winners in the electrification space as well,” he said, referring to the opening of Blue Oval City in Tennessee, which will be dedicated to making all-electric vehicles.

The BlueOval SK Battery Park in Kentucky will support battery needs for North America.  And Ford Ion Park in Michigan is a global battery center of excellence designed to be the home base for researching new technologies and piloting advanced manufacturing techniques.

“We want to have the expertise in batteries, just like we’ve developed expertise in transmissions and engines over the years,” said Filipe.  “It’s a very complex value stream, from mining all the way through refining and building a battery cell.” 

Filipe concluded his presentation by recognizing the Ford team for continuing to move forward, despite challenges created by COVID and the ongoing chip shortage.

“Our teams continue to work hard and be resilient, no matter what’s thrown our way,” he said.  “We’re transforming our teams. We’re transforming our approach. We’re transforming our mindset.  Do we have more work to do?  Absolutely.  But I’m starting to see the quality nuggets come through.  Our team is incredibly talented, energetic, focused and hungry to take on the challenge.”