In this second series of Ford South Africa's 2026 Five Questions with a Ford Leader, we go behind the scenes with Yuliia Varchuk, New Programs, Maintenance & Engineering Manager. Yuliia operates at the intersection of established engineering excellence and digital innovation, leading the integration of 21st-century AI into our manufacturing foundation.
Tasked with balancing current technical resilience with the launch of Ford’s next-generation vehicle programs, Yuliia’s role is a complex puzzle of logic and intuition. From integrating Machine Learning into shop-floor workflows to mentoring the next generation of engineering talent, she leads with a refreshing directness. Dive into this Q&A to learn why she traded over-explaining for authority and how she is engineering a more resilient future for Ford South Africa.
1. Your role bridges the gap between the “now” and the “next”, balancing current maintenance with the launch of new programs. What are your primary focus areas for the 2026 calendar year?
My focus is the Digital Transformation of Resilience. We’re moving beyond reactive maintenance into Predictive Engineering. By integrating AI and Machine Learning into our shop-floor workflows, we aren’t just fixing machines; we’re teaching them to communicate their needs before a failure occurs. It’s about marrying our industrial heritage with a high-tech future.
2. In a high-intensity manufacturing environment, precision and uptime are critical. What keeps you up at night when managing the complexities of engineering and technical maintenance?
Digital Archaeology. I’m balancing the 'Tribal Knowledge' of veterans with the 'Digital Intuition' of a new generation, all while teaching 20th-century hardware to speak 21st-century AI. It’s like trying to get a vintage typewriter to send a WhatsApp message - complex, but a puzzle my brain loves solving at midnight. (That, or my two rescue cats are performing 'unplanned maintenance' on my sleep schedule.)
3. How do you practically apply the Ford OS Behaviours in your role and across your skill team?
I practice Radical Candor. To me, 'Care for Each Other' means being brave enough to call out a broken process before it becomes a crisis. We don’t put digital band-aids on structural wounds. I foster an environment where we surface the 'ugly' truths about our technical debt so we can actually fix the foundation, not just sugarcoat the symptoms.
4. What is the best piece of leadership advice you’ve ever received, and how do you pay that forward when mentoring the next generation of talent within your team?
The most transformative advice I ever received: 'Stop leading like a "female" and start leading with authority.' It was a lesson in decoupling leadership from the need to be liked or the habit of over-explaining. I traded 'consensus-seeking' for Strategic Precision. I pay this forward by teaching my team that clarity is the highest form of care—logic and directness aren't 'aggressive,' they’re efficient.
5. Rapid Fire
- Early bird or night owl? Night Owl. My best strategic flow happens when the world is quiet
- Logic or intuition? Logic as the engine, intuition as the steering
- Winter or summer? Winter. It’s the season of clarity
- City break or nature escape? Nature Escape. It’s the best way to reset the mental hardware
- Book or podcast? Book. I prefer the deep, analytical dive of a dystopian or metaphysical classic
- Sneakers or safety boots? Safety Boots. That’s where the strategy meets the steel
- Digital notes or a physical notebook? Digital notes