Does anybody here happen to work on a Ford Assembly Line ???
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From: Selden NY
Does anybody here happen to work on a Ford Assembly Line ???
My question to those who know is,
Does Ford have to answer to anybody ???
Does anyone oversee and check the car (Lightning) before it leaves the plant ???
Someone please explain to me how the hell thousands upon thousand of Lightning's left with front ends that shift and make an extremely obvious noise THAT CAN NOT BE MISSED. Front windshield gaskets that fell off within weeks, spare tires that do not even go down (of course you don't find that one out unless it's dark, cold, rainy, and you have a flat.) and everything else from noisy electric windows to loose spark plugs. One poor Brother actually blew the tranny turning out of the dealer the second he picked it up. The point being, doesn't each and every vehicle have to go through some kind of inspection or test or certification ??? I mean this is supposed to be the ELITE SVT SPECIAL VEHICLE TEAM.
The answer seems to be ANYTHING GOES
I love my Lightning, and Did the Cobra I sold to get it, but I got to tell you, I have grown to absolutely hate Ford for what it's become.
EDIT HERE
Super Ford just got a brand new 03 L with the wrong tranny fluid did stick, It showed 3-1/2 qts low, and said to use the wrong fluid for our truck (which caused him to add 3.5 quarts of wrong extra fluid) we already saw pictures of his front end shifting (moving) just like the last years did. So once again it seems Ford is deaf, dumb, and blind to obvious problems that HAVE BEEN THERE FOR YEARS. It seems they don't even do simple test like checking the tires and fluid levels. WTF ?
Can someone shed light on this please ?
Does Ford have to answer to anybody ???
Does anyone oversee and check the car (Lightning) before it leaves the plant ???
Someone please explain to me how the hell thousands upon thousand of Lightning's left with front ends that shift and make an extremely obvious noise THAT CAN NOT BE MISSED. Front windshield gaskets that fell off within weeks, spare tires that do not even go down (of course you don't find that one out unless it's dark, cold, rainy, and you have a flat.) and everything else from noisy electric windows to loose spark plugs. One poor Brother actually blew the tranny turning out of the dealer the second he picked it up. The point being, doesn't each and every vehicle have to go through some kind of inspection or test or certification ??? I mean this is supposed to be the ELITE SVT SPECIAL VEHICLE TEAM.
The answer seems to be ANYTHING GOES
I love my Lightning, and Did the Cobra I sold to get it, but I got to tell you, I have grown to absolutely hate Ford for what it's become.
EDIT HERE
Super Ford just got a brand new 03 L with the wrong tranny fluid did stick, It showed 3-1/2 qts low, and said to use the wrong fluid for our truck (which caused him to add 3.5 quarts of wrong extra fluid) we already saw pictures of his front end shifting (moving) just like the last years did. So once again it seems Ford is deaf, dumb, and blind to obvious problems that HAVE BEEN THERE FOR YEARS. It seems they don't even do simple test like checking the tires and fluid levels. WTF ?
Can someone shed light on this please ?
Last edited by Rob_02Lightning; Jan 4, 2003 at 10:20 PM.
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From: Bridgeport, MI
I AM SADDEN TO HEAR OF YOUR PROBLEMS AND HAVE ASKED THE QUESTION MANY TIMES MYSELF. I AM GOING TO COPY THIS THREAD AND PASS IT ON TO THE SVT MANAGER TO SEE WHAT HE/SHE SAYS. I MAY OR MAY NO BE ABLE TO PRINT YOU A DIRECT QUOTE OF HIS/HER ANSWERS. HOWEVER, I PROMISE EVERONE ON THIS THREAD THAT I WILL SEND IT TO THEM. I WORK WITH ROMEO ENGINE PLANT WHERE THE 4.6 AND THE COBRA ENGINE IS MADE. I AM THE MANUFACTURING ADVISOR FOR THE CRANKSHAFT DEPARTMENT.
PEACE, SUAVY
PEACE, SUAVY
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From: London,Ontario,Canada
Rob_02Lightning
I don't exactly work at a Ford assembly plant but I do work in an automotive assembly plant that builds what use to be Ford's heavy truck. To answer your question, I can guarantee you that every vehicle is suppose to go through inspections for everything that you mentioned, but however those inspections are done by regular human beings who at times don't give a crap about what they are doing and just want to go for break or talk to their buddies and what not. Then to top it all off you get management who doesn't enforce the rules and everybody gets use to not getting in trouble for anything.
Then next thing you know they haven't reached their numbers for the day and rush out a bunch of products unfinished just to make it "look" to corporate that things are on schedule. So you end up with a bunch of vehicles that are halfass built, halfass inspected and are passed just for the sake of numbers and $ signs. And I know with our company we would ship trucks out that still had parts on shortages and just ship them to the dealerships to be finished.
Volume up, quality down, and it's like that everywhere.
Hope this answered your question. Sucks heh.
I don't exactly work at a Ford assembly plant but I do work in an automotive assembly plant that builds what use to be Ford's heavy truck. To answer your question, I can guarantee you that every vehicle is suppose to go through inspections for everything that you mentioned, but however those inspections are done by regular human beings who at times don't give a crap about what they are doing and just want to go for break or talk to their buddies and what not. Then to top it all off you get management who doesn't enforce the rules and everybody gets use to not getting in trouble for anything.
Then next thing you know they haven't reached their numbers for the day and rush out a bunch of products unfinished just to make it "look" to corporate that things are on schedule. So you end up with a bunch of vehicles that are halfass built, halfass inspected and are passed just for the sake of numbers and $ signs. And I know with our company we would ship trucks out that still had parts on shortages and just ship them to the dealerships to be finished.
Volume up, quality down, and it's like that everywhere.
Hope this answered your question. Sucks heh.
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From: NJ
Rob - look at the way I do, it's a give and take situation. These trucks are fast Home Depot/Circuit City runners, so theres gotta be a few problems. If they were perfect they get 40 mpg 
Suavy - thats very cool of you to do, one thing though:
Suavy - thats very cool of you to do, one thing though:
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From: Selden NY
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Originally posted by kiki
Rob_02Lightning
I don't exactly work at a Ford assembly plant but I do work in an automotive assembly plant that builds what use to be Ford's heavy truck. To answer your question, I can guarantee you that every vehicle is suppose to go through inspections for everything that you mentioned, but however those inspections are done by regular human beings who at times don't give a crap about what they are doing and just want to go for break or talk to their buddies and what not. Then to top it all off you get management who doesn't enforce the rules and everybody gets use to not getting in trouble for anything.
Then next thing you know they haven't reached their numbers for the day and rush out a bunch of products unfinished just to make it "look" to corporate that things are on schedule. So you end up with a bunch of vehicles that are halfass built, halfass inspected and are passed just for the sake of numbers and $ signs. And I know with our company we would ship trucks out that still had parts on shortages and just ship them to the dealerships to be finished.
Volume up, quality down, and it's like that everywhere.
Hope this answered your question. Sucks heh.
Rob_02Lightning
I don't exactly work at a Ford assembly plant but I do work in an automotive assembly plant that builds what use to be Ford's heavy truck. To answer your question, I can guarantee you that every vehicle is suppose to go through inspections for everything that you mentioned, but however those inspections are done by regular human beings who at times don't give a crap about what they are doing and just want to go for break or talk to their buddies and what not. Then to top it all off you get management who doesn't enforce the rules and everybody gets use to not getting in trouble for anything.
Then next thing you know they haven't reached their numbers for the day and rush out a bunch of products unfinished just to make it "look" to corporate that things are on schedule. So you end up with a bunch of vehicles that are halfass built, halfass inspected and are passed just for the sake of numbers and $ signs. And I know with our company we would ship trucks out that still had parts on shortages and just ship them to the dealerships to be finished.
Volume up, quality down, and it's like that everywhere.
Hope this answered your question. Sucks heh.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,985
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From: Cincinnati, OH
Well, I don't work in an assembly plant, but let me tell you....
I've been both salaried and UAW, and from what I've seen on both sides, there are people who really care but don't know any better, people who are hung up on "I'm in charge and you do what I tell you" and the poor line advisors (tell 'em Suavy) get it from both directions. A transmission plant is not typical of the company at large, we build the single most complex major assmembly in the vehicle and it's different, and I'm a repairman not on a line so I don't have a "number" to hit, but I did that in the past and I understand it.
The best supervisors are the ones who don't try to act like they know when they don't. I've had some that trust my judgement and I appreciate them, I've had at least one who after being hte supervisor of repair/button up for all of 3 weeks try to tell the repairman (average seniority prolly about 15 years) how to fix transmissions. Most of these guys have NO KNOWEDGE of how a transmission works! It's not their job, union rules dictate they aren't allowed to even touch the parts, and though some are engineers (who either know about it or know they don't anyhow) most of the supervisors are management majors, a decent education for what they are supposed to do, but poor preperation for repairing transmissions. After a few years, most of them get it, but the new ones are entertaining to watch sometimes.
just what I think,
G
I've been both salaried and UAW, and from what I've seen on both sides, there are people who really care but don't know any better, people who are hung up on "I'm in charge and you do what I tell you" and the poor line advisors (tell 'em Suavy) get it from both directions. A transmission plant is not typical of the company at large, we build the single most complex major assmembly in the vehicle and it's different, and I'm a repairman not on a line so I don't have a "number" to hit, but I did that in the past and I understand it.
The best supervisors are the ones who don't try to act like they know when they don't. I've had some that trust my judgement and I appreciate them, I've had at least one who after being hte supervisor of repair/button up for all of 3 weeks try to tell the repairman (average seniority prolly about 15 years) how to fix transmissions. Most of these guys have NO KNOWEDGE of how a transmission works! It's not their job, union rules dictate they aren't allowed to even touch the parts, and though some are engineers (who either know about it or know they don't anyhow) most of the supervisors are management majors, a decent education for what they are supposed to do, but poor preperation for repairing transmissions. After a few years, most of them get it, but the new ones are entertaining to watch sometimes.
just what I think,
G
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Quantity over Quality
Well I hate to hear the problems you are having, but the sad fact of the matter is, Ford wants Quantity over Quality. My wife works at Kentucky Truck (F-250 & up) and I hear stories all the time of cross threaded bolts, missing gaskets, you name it, and if someone stops the line for problems, you have eveybody and their mother over there wanting to know why that line has stopped. Sad but true. Plus I work at a Tier 1 Supplier for the Explorer plants in Louisville and St. Louis, and I deal with them on a customer basis and if they run across an issue, they build the vehicle and set it out in the "Repair Yard" to get fixed after it is completed. I guess that's why they come with a factory warranty, because Ford knows that being a union, and with the difficulties of having to deal with some union people, it's hard to find people who want to do a quality job and do what they are asked to do. I'm not knocking unions or anything, but being married to a union person, I hear a lot of crap that goes on. I guess that is why, and I'm ashamed to say, that is why Toyota has passed everybody in the automotive industry when it comes to quality, because that is what they base their reputation on and plus they are non union. I had a 96 Dodge Ram that once I got a flat on both right front and back, and tried to take them off and I had a lug nut on both strip. I guess the lug nut torque impact gun wasn't working to well when that truck was built at the factory. There is no telling how many people had the same problem with that.
Plus the SVT Team is exactly what it is. A team that just decides what to put in certain vehicles and have them built at whatever plant they are at. They don't have any control over the quality of the assembly plant that builds the vehicle.
Plus I just bought a 2002 F-150 4X4 Super Cab and I have found paint flaws in 4 different spots. I'm not talking something minor that can be disregarded, I'm talking staple size dirt underneath the paint itself. In 4 DIFFERENT LOCATIONS!! How the hell do you miss something like that? I haven't taken it back to get fixed yet, because mentally I'm not ready to deal with the hassle of having it taken care of. Love that warranty work that nobody wants to do.
I guess I would suggest to find the SVT contact and complain of all the issues and see what they can tell you. If it were up to me, I would love to be there at the plant following my vehicle step by step and station to station to make sure nobody screws up my 30 plus thousand dollar vehicle.
Well, that's my $.02. But I guess nobody made us buy these vehicles huh?
Plus the SVT Team is exactly what it is. A team that just decides what to put in certain vehicles and have them built at whatever plant they are at. They don't have any control over the quality of the assembly plant that builds the vehicle.
Plus I just bought a 2002 F-150 4X4 Super Cab and I have found paint flaws in 4 different spots. I'm not talking something minor that can be disregarded, I'm talking staple size dirt underneath the paint itself. In 4 DIFFERENT LOCATIONS!! How the hell do you miss something like that? I haven't taken it back to get fixed yet, because mentally I'm not ready to deal with the hassle of having it taken care of. Love that warranty work that nobody wants to do.
I guess I would suggest to find the SVT contact and complain of all the issues and see what they can tell you. If it were up to me, I would love to be there at the plant following my vehicle step by step and station to station to make sure nobody screws up my 30 plus thousand dollar vehicle.
Well, that's my $.02. But I guess nobody made us buy these vehicles huh?
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From: Bridgeport, MI
captainoblivious,
Sorry about using all caps I know it's as if I was shouting.
However, maybe I was?
In the engine plant we will stop build if there is a problem! I being first line management will stop the line rather than run junk! I have never been forced to run substandard parts. Things are changing here and for the most part we all take pride in our product. Upper management here would rather stop production than run junk. Our employees both union and management are held accountable for quality. I cannot comment on the exact number of incidents or that there was an incident but you can be fired now for quality!!! There is allot of bad things said about employees but keep this in mind... We all drive what we make! We all would like to retire with benefits! We all would like to keep our jobs. There is allot of new faces around here but keep in mind every time we lose market share to imports and the other big 2 it equates to plant closings and lay offs! I love my Lightning and I love the feeling of driving the fast truck on the road! I don't baby my lightning I drive it 152 mile a day to work but that is my choice. There are problems with all car companies not just Ford. The numbers are staggering for first time through at all car companies. Please be a little patient with us change takes time but we are trying.
Peace, Suavy
Sorry about using all caps I know it's as if I was shouting.
However, maybe I was?
In the engine plant we will stop build if there is a problem! I being first line management will stop the line rather than run junk! I have never been forced to run substandard parts. Things are changing here and for the most part we all take pride in our product. Upper management here would rather stop production than run junk. Our employees both union and management are held accountable for quality. I cannot comment on the exact number of incidents or that there was an incident but you can be fired now for quality!!! There is allot of bad things said about employees but keep this in mind... We all drive what we make! We all would like to retire with benefits! We all would like to keep our jobs. There is allot of new faces around here but keep in mind every time we lose market share to imports and the other big 2 it equates to plant closings and lay offs! I love my Lightning and I love the feeling of driving the fast truck on the road! I don't baby my lightning I drive it 152 mile a day to work but that is my choice. There are problems with all car companies not just Ford. The numbers are staggering for first time through at all car companies. Please be a little patient with us change takes time but we are trying.
Peace, Suavy