From Employee No. #337 to General Manager: Li Jianping's 23-Year Odyssey at Changan Ford

I Came for Ford Motor Company's China Dream

In April 2002, Li Jianping joined Changan Ford as employee number 337.

"At the time, the factory building was basically finished, and the production line equipment had just arrived. When I joined, we were just starting work on the eleventh prototype of the Fiesta."

Before joining Ford, Li Jianping worked at CNHTC (China National Heavy Duty Truck Group). He also held an offer from a Japanese company with a much higher salary than Ford's. However, it was during the exact interview at the Japanese company that he heard news: Ford was coming to Chongqing to build a factory! Initially, he couldn't believe it. But this piece of news made Li Jianping, a graduate of Wuhan University of Technology with a degree in automotive engineering who was deeply aware of Ford's place in automotive history, change his mind: Go to Ford, and aim to be in the top three within three years!

As a result, he has been here for 23 years, chasing that dream.

The first CEO, Mr. Ron Tyack was the first to arrive at the company every morning. His first task was to personally inspect the excavated soil piled next to each foundation pit at the construction site to confirm the progress of piling... This profoundly influenced Li Jianping's subsequent work style and methods.

After the prototype rolled off the line, they implemented a system of placing the key of the preceding car on the succeeding car to achieve "managing all prototypes with one key." This allowed the VE test engineers from the UK to get the vehicles for road testing in an orderly fashion. They would return the vehicle along with a list of issues found during the road test to Li Jianping, who would then translate these issues into Chinese and hand them over to technicians for resolution.

"Our early efforts were to ensure that users wouldn't have trouble later on!"

During that time, as the Manufacturing Manager, the smooth operation of the production line was one of the most critical goals. "In the plant, no news is good news."

Li Jianping said he was often plagued by infinite anxiety. "What if the equipment breaks down, and cars get stuck on the assembly line? That's the loss of dozens of cars in an hour, and the hard work of tens of thousands of people will be wasted. What should we do? Can we have a contingency plan and response strategy for every possible issue?"

"Because Ford only began to set up passenger vehicle joint venture factories in China after 2000, international brands like Volkswagen, GM, and Toyota already had locally produced models blooming everywhere. We had no choice but to chase after them desperately. This meant one person had to do the work of several, working day and night, selflessly, sometimes not even having time to go home. From top to bottom, everyone was pushing hard. So, when this car rolled off the line, many people cried, including myself. We truly must pay the highest respect to the first 500 employees of Changan Ford."

This car is still preserved at Changan Ford. The hood bears the signatures of the important leaders who attended the roll-off ceremony, including Li Peng, then Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Li Jianping, too, stubbornly signed his name on the side fender, saying it was their sweat and blood and deserved to be witnessed.

A Tombstone in the Garden – Honoring a Team Member and a Great Contributor

Li Jianping also told us a story: In June 2001, Andy Moynihan came to Chongqing from the UK as a technical expert to support the production of the Fiesta project. He would visit the final assembly site almost every day to discuss issues with Li Jianping and his team.

He did not return to the UK during this time until September 2003, when the Fiesta had already entered mass production.

Although they had the successful experience of the Fiesta, everyone only felt the huge gap between the two models when they actually started producing the Mondeo: whether it was electrical standards, process levels, or even a crease, a closing force, a rubber strip, a windshield wiper... "It felt like we had never fought such a high-intensity battle."

At the time, there were no strong engineering R&D resources to support its production. The only available resource they could borrow was from the already-producing Ford Lio Ho factory in Taiwan. Under the coordination of the first CEO of Ford China, Mei-Wei Cheng, help was brought over from Taiwan.

"So, the Mondeo's production owes a debt of gratitude to them. Without the success of the Mondeo, Changan Ford would not have been profitable, and there would be no later Focus."

Ford Focus

What Li Jianping is most proud of is the Ford Focus, which was produced almost simultaneously with Europe. This was Changan Ford's first time competing with other Ford factories on the same stage. Li Jianping set the goal for his team: better quality than the German factory.

To achieve this, he drove the prototype car produced by the German factory every day to experience it, aiming to benchmark and find areas for improvement. He constantly told himself: "Made in China must be able to catch up with Made in Germany!"

Thanks to everyone's efforts, the Focus truly became a classic in the hearts of Chinese people of that era and created a sales legend for many consecutive years.

"Ford's headlights are installed at the very end of the final assembly line, while Mazda's are at the eighth station of the final assembly. The fixtures for installing Volvo's door panels are not compatible with Ford's..." To address this, they studied how each company managed bottlenecks, implementing flexible manufacturing to produce multiple brands and models with different process sequences, quality requirements, and production tooling on a single production line.

In this way, Changan Ford's First Plant, achieved the co-production of three brands, with an annual output of 340,000 vehicles, which was nothing short of a miracle.

Li Jianping described those days: "Physically very tired, but mentally very happy; the salary wasn't high, but the sense of accomplishment was immense. There were new challenges every day, and no moment to breathe."

In 2024, Changan Ford integrated Chongqing Plants Two and Three, merging the production of Ford and Lincoln models onto a single line. The complexity of final assembly parts doubled, the total number of parts nearly doubled, new model production could not be delayed, production efficiency could not be reduced, and operating costs could not be increased—all testing the professionalism and focus of the manufacturing team.

The team completed the seamless transition during the three days of New Year's Day. In just one month, production volume, quality, and efficiency recovered and even steadily surpassed the pre-merger level. After-sales quality performance further improved, earning the Chongqing Vehicle Plant the 2024 Ford Global Excellence in Quality Gold Award.

Every Car is Our Child

Although the interview was over the phone, one could strongly feel that Li Jianping is a passionate and genuine person. He laughed heartily while recounting those past moments, but he said his eyes were currently filled with tears.

He said that in the 23 years of ups and downs at Changan Ford, he feels immensely fortunate to have worked with this group of brothers, who are both mentors and friends, and this group of passionate Ford enthusiasts!

He admitted that he "used to get stressed and impatient very easily. Subordinates would report to me in just ten-odd seconds and then quickly leave... Sometimes, I would also pound the table, regardless of who the other person was..." But everyone clearly understood that under the immense pressure of production, it was all to accomplish their shared work, so no matter how fierce the arguments, once they left the office, everyone continued to work well together.

"Our old mentors, the former senior leaders from Ford and Changan, also frequently reminded me to pay attention to emotional intelligence while focusing on business." After becoming a director, Li Jianping has been actively seeking change.

"Striving to build a team with high capability, high willingness, high efficiency, and high performance is my professional pursuit, and it is also the driving force behind my own continuous hard work."

He choked up several times during the two-hour interview, saying he loved every car that rolled off the line as if it were his own child.

In 2008, one morning just before the first Chinese leader was about to step down, Li Jianping saw the leader standing by a Mondeo at the end of the final assembly line, reluctantly circling it. His own eyes involuntarily reddened. "I could fully empathize with his years of selfless work. Seeing Changan Ford grow from nothing to something, from small to large, from large to strong, brought both gratification and reluctance to let go."

"It's like sending your child to kindergarten, watching them walk through the gate with a small backpack—that feeling of being both proud and incredibly reluctant as a parent."

Throughout the entire two-hour interview, Li Jianping recounted instance after instance over the past 23 years—challenges that seemed like insurmountable mountains at the time. Yet, he consistently maintained clear-headed optimism and an undying passion. He feels he is most like the Classic Focus, which is also his favorite car.

"Able to withstand hits, able to endure jumps, decide and do it, do it and succeed—just like the Focus, affectionately nicknamed the 'Little Steel Cannon' by netizens."

"Today, Changan Ford still hasn't achieved your initial dream of becoming a Top 3 player in the Chinese automotive market. How does that make you feel..." Finally, I felt a little hesitant to ask such a difficult question.

"I still deeply love Changan Ford, I still like this company, and I still haven't changed my affection for this company."

The reply on the other end of the phone was instantaneous: "I am not in despair. I have always believed that we haven't lain down; we are just squatting."