A New "Maximum Bob" in Town: Ford officially gets a Car Czar

[nadepalma]

SOURCE: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...12140465/1148/

New at Ford: Car czar
Automaker to name its first global product chief
Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News


Derrick M. Kuzak
Age: 55
Education: Bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from University of Detroit, where he also earned a doctorate in systems engineering.
Career: Joined Ford in 1978 as a research engineer. Held a variety of high-level product development jobs in Europe and North America. He was instrumental in the development of Ford's SUV family and the Focus small car.
Personal: Lives in Milford; married with one daughter. Born in Detroit, raised in what is now Eastpointe.

Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally is expected to name a new global product development czar as part of a push to integrate Ford's worldwide vehicle development operations and empower designers and engineers to find ways to create new models faster and more cost-efficiently.

Derrick Kuzak, 55, now group vice president in charge of product development for Ford's Americas group, will be tapped for the global job, according to people familiar with the plan. An announcement could come as early as this week. A Ford spokesman declined to comment Wednesday.

Reporting to Mulally, Kuzak will have responsibility for all Ford product programs worldwide. He will lead the push to integrate Ford's global operations and commonize vehicle platforms, the basic underpinnings of cars and trucks, and the processes that create them.

"There's only one way to do that: You have to have one person in charge of it on a global level," said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.

Cole said Kuzak is a solid choice for the job because of his strong leadership and engineering skills. "He is highly respected by the people at Ford. I've heard that from many people."

Cole said he expects Mulally to create a similar position to oversee global manufacturing operations -- a move the new CEO has already hinted is possible.

Ford's board of directors is meeting this week in Dearborn to discuss globalizing the automaker's operations and other issues.

With the new product job, Mulally may be taking a lesson from General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner. Wagoner surprised the automotive world in 2001 when he drafted legendary car guy Bob Lutz to be GM's product czar. Last year, Lutz took on global product development at GM.

He has since reorganized the automaker's vehicle development operations to take advantage of global capabilities and efficiencies. GM's announcement last week that it will import its popular German-bred Opel Astra to the United States and sell the small car as a Saturn is one recent example of that shift in strategy.

At Ford, the appointment of a global product czar comes on the heels of an announcement last week that Mark Schulz, head of Ford's international operations, will retire early next year.

Mulally, who joined Ford from aircraft maker Boeing Co. in October, is not expected to replace Schulz.

He is moving quickly to create a flatter corporate structure that eliminates the historic divisions between Ford's domestic and overseas business units. At the same time, he wants to harness the combined strength of those divisions to create better cars and trucks for less money by building off of common platforms and shared components.

In a recent interview with The Detroit News, Mulally said Kuzak is the "part of the plan" to consolidate Ford's global operations and the kind of executive he wants on his core team.

"(He is a) great leader, great engineer," Mulally said, citing an example of the global perspective he hopes Kuzak will instill in Ford designers and engineers.

While engineers in Dearborn were working on a new electrical signaling system for the steering wheel of an upcoming model, Kuzak recalled that similar efforts were under way in Europe. He sent his team there to work with their counterparts on a common solution that could be used on both sides of the Atlantic.

Mulally also praised Kuzak for eschewing Ford's long-standing practice of shuffling engineers from project to project, focusing instead on building teams centered on core disciplines.

"He's pulled them together," Mulally said. "He's got the chassis guys together. He's got the engine guys together. He's got them all across Europe and the United States, working together."


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[rob2299usa]

Is it just me? Or does it seems like when it comes to running their business Ford waits for GM to make a move and then just copies them??

[tgagneguam]

Originally Posted by rob2299usa

Is it just me? Or does it seems like when it comes to running their business Ford waits for GM to make a move and then just copies them??

I was thinking along the same lines.

Be that as it may, if the "plan" works, then go for it. How nice would it be to have Detroit taking back some of the share it handed over to its competitors?

[Evo69]

Originally Posted by rob2299usa

Is it just me? Or does it seems like when it comes to running their business Ford waits for GM to make a move and then just copies them??

Thats what Ford was always doing till the Japanese crashed the all American party.

[camaro_freak]

was the four door and wagon variants of the Mustang his idea? If so Ford should can him before he does any more damage

if not, he should stop the Mustang "brand" from taking shape

[uboys]

Stop!!
Ford is not the enemy. Toyota is.

[igor]

Originally Posted by rob2299usa

Is it just me? Or does it seems like when it comes to running their business Ford waits for GM to make a move and then just copies them??

regardless of history tright now.. Ford finally woke up and is scrambling for examples of what has worked.. there is not enought time to be creative in things like these ... Lutrz has done wonders uniting GM into a company (productwise), and seeing that Mulally sees the same need in Ford -well - let's copy the Lutz move.

Regardless ... the Lutz move was a great one ... so is this one.

Igor

[86'er]

Originally Posted by Evo69

Thats what Ford was always doing till the Japanese crashed the all American party.

I don't know if I'd say that.

[igor]

Originally Posted by camaro_freak

was the four door and wagon variants of the Mustang his idea? If so Ford should can him before he does any more damage

if not, he should stop the Mustang "brand" from taking shape

from what I have heard since yesterday, the report was bogus (ish) .. the Mustang line was mentioned on one meeting as a way to introduce Aussi platform to Ford NA .. .

however it was ONE OF MANY IDEAS .. no idea who proposed it .. but it is far from decided .. I would not be surprised if we see Ford test the waters with a mustang Sedan concept (or something like that) ... but given the reaction just the mention had yesterday, I think Ford will not go forward with that idea, and choose a different one.
(I still do like the idea of a Mustang line .. but well - I am not a born American, and I am nt a majority).

I believer Kizack's biggest achievement was the C1 platform.

Igor

[lio45]

Originally Posted by rob2299usa

Is it just me? Or does it seems like when it comes to running their business Ford waits for GM to make a move and then just copies them??

Or the opposite... for every Corvette-Tbird, there's a Mustang-Camaro, Taurus, or Navigator-Escalade example...

even very recent examples of GM copying Ford are easy to find:

Originally Posted by Detroit Free Press

JPMorgan auto analyst Himanshu Patel, who was at the meeting, said the buyouts could happen as early as 2008 and might emulate the offers of crosstown rival Ford Motor Co.

"GM has studied Ford's attrition program, and we sensed an implicit statement that certain aspects of Ford's more successful buyout program could have been implemented at GM," Patel said in a research note to investors.

BTW, it's definitely funny to see some act like GM is any example to follow in the automotive industry... bias aside, GM, just like Ford, is one of the slowest, most inert, least inventive, and most risk-averse automakers on the face of the planet.

[MBHockey13]

Originally Posted by uboys

Stop!!
Ford is not the enemy. Toyota is.

"Enemy"?


Most Ford's have been boring compared to GM for 30 years, if not longer...

[Mikkoo]

Originally Posted by lio45

Or the opposite... for every Corvette-Tbird, there's a Mustang-Camaro, Taurus, or Navigator-Escalade example...

even very recent examples of GM copying Ford are easy to find:



BTW, it's definitely funny to see some act like GM is any example to follow in the automotive industry... bias aside, GM, just like Ford, is one of the slowest, most inert, least inventive, and most risk-averse automakers on the face of the planet.

Your assesments are quite true. Ford has been an innovator if we look
back several decades ago. Unfortunetely, it's 2006, and Ford needs more
winning designs, not more Ford 500 styling blunders.

[stevecmh]

Originally Posted by rob2299usa

Is it just me? Or does it seems like when it comes to running their business Ford waits for GM to make a move and then just copies them??

yeah same here... well if it works for them... good for them.. they need it. and it definitely worked for GM.

[nadepalma]

Originally Posted by Detroit News

Mulally also praised Kuzak for eschewing Ford's long-standing practice of shuffling engineers from project to project, focusing instead on building teams centered on core disciplines.

This point is very very important. I read years ago that American executives (regardless of industry) like to send their executives from one assignment to another anywhere in the world. So you may get a GM guy who moves from purchasing to development to component engineering to electrical systems, etc. The reason for it was that execs always wanted folks who were well rounded and could deal with any situation, so if they make it to the top of the food chain, they had some knowledge on how things work company wide. Part of this has historically been b/c the Post WWII corporate structure is very much learned/derived from military officers who had to be a bit of "jack of all trades" in the ranks and had to think independently.

But the same article said that the Japanese (and to a lesser extent the Germans) do this much much less. And they keep their folks within core competences to make them "experts" rather than "jacks of all trades". So you may get a manufacturing guy who has risen to the top of his division, but here was in manufacturing for 15 years. Do they move around? Yeah, but not with the frequency or the inter-dicipline jumping that most American execs do.

So perhaps there is something to learn here. Perhaps there is a need for GM, Ford, Chrysler (and other American companies?) to make people stay put and develop into better "Fill-in-the-blank" before moving on to something else. Or perhaps let them become the best at their given field period and let them evolve in that department/division. That might make them powertrain experts or manufacturing experts, etc.

Just speculating here.

[nadepalma]

Originally Posted by igor

regardless of history tright now.. Ford finally woke up and is scrambling for examples of what has worked.. there is not enought time to be creative in things like these ... Lutrz has done wonders uniting GM into a company (productwise), and seeing that Mulally sees the same need in Ford -well - let's copy the Lutz move.

Regardless ... the Lutz move was a great one ... so is this one.

Igor

I agree Igor. I don't know if Ford is copying GM or if GM has done that in the past, etc.

Point is, when something works, copy-it, further-develop it, etc. with no shame. GM and Ford both modeled their production systems on the Toyota system --- you could say it was "they copied Toyota, blah, blah, blah". But if it works, then GM could do worse than take something, turn it over and make it their own.

Right now FoMoCo is in financial trouble and they need to get their house in order. If taking a page out GM's playbook (or anyone's for that matter) makes good sense for their situation, I'm all for it.

Besides, i want to see all the domestics succeed. A number of American companies in the past have run more like conglomerates than unified corporate structures. GM and Ford are/were notorious for this by running as separate divisions around the world and re-inventing the wheel each time (as the article states and we all know as GMIers) -- so if they move to fix this oversight, then i say more power to them and Godspeed.

Just get it done!