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The cluster fuck continues. I don’t even have faith that my order will be fulfilled by 2023 at this point.

Seeing so many early reservations still waiting while others without reservations get their ahead of us tells me that Ford really doesn’t give a shit about the reservation system or the folks waiting since summer of 2020. You’d think they’d prioritize reservations that are still waiting. Catch up at the end of year. But nope.
They have two days to get mine here again but this is the third time they said it would be in so not much faith in ford
 

MontanaMountainMan

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I'm half wondering if Ford hasn't decided in light of these issues that a pause and retooling of their process is in order, with a not-announced, but in practice, push to hold off on serious scheduling to get some QA improvements in, pushing most remaining orders to MY '23 rather than continuing business as usual.

For one thing, engine and fuel pump failures, particularly when deep off-road, on brand new trucks has the potential to crater confidence in the vehicle and risk not just current orders, but future orders not yet placed. Take the engine failures. ~25k vehicles, according to this FordAuthority story, could be affected. That's potentially 25k PR time bombs out on the road or trail right now, given it can suddenly fail at highway speeds or leave someone stranded off-road, and requiring, worst case, a full engine replacement.

Then you have all of these almost-finished trucks on Dirt Mountain that are just sitting out in the elements and seemingly no plan to clear them out at scale. If they're there too long, or can't realistically be finished because it disrupts the normal flow of assembly, Ford's basically just sitting on a massive cost-of-goods dump.

If the idea is to implement fixes now, the Sasquatch constraint and rollover to MY '23 is good cover to buy the time to do so. Gives them time to also try to clean up Dirt Mountain.

I have no insight into MAP or auto manufacturing at scale, and I'm sure I'm missing some important points, but if I were in their shoes, these would be my concerns and thinking just from a business standpoint. In software, we try to learn from process controls in other industries and one I've seen the successful tech companies use is the andon cord, originally implemented by Toyota. I don't know if MAP is using this, but I highly doubt it. Dirt Mountain wouldn't exist at all if it did, it seems to me.

Anyway, that's a lot of text. Last thought is, if I'm honest, I don't know that I want them to build mine right now given these issues. I'd be hesitant to do any serious off-roading, or even regular driving through areas without cell service (national parks). If they need 2, 3 or even 6 months to implement process changes, source better vendors for unreliable valves, or whatever, and to deliver quality builds, I'd prefer they do that now and build me a vehicle I can trust to not leave me stranded.
 

grenjith7

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I'm half wondering if Ford hasn't decided in light of these issues that a pause and retooling of their process is in order, with a not-announced, but in practice, push to hold off on serious scheduling to get some QA improvements in, pushing most remaining orders to MY '23 rather than continuing business as usual.

For one thing, engine and fuel pump failures, particularly when deep off-road, on brand new trucks has the potential to crater confidence in the vehicle and risk not just current orders, but future orders not yet placed. Take the engine failures. ~25k vehicles, according to this FordAuthority story, could be affected. That's potentially 25k PR time bombs out on the road or trail right now, given it can suddenly fail at highway speeds or leave someone stranded off-road, and requiring, worst case, a full engine replacement.

Then you have all of these almost-finished trucks on Dirt Mountain that are just sitting out in the elements and seemingly no plan to clear them out at scale. If they're there too long, or can't realistically be finished because it disrupts the normal flow of assembly, Ford's basically just sitting on a massive cost-of-goods dump.

If the idea is to implement fixes now, the Sasquatch constraint and rollover to MY '23 is good cover to buy the time to do so. Gives them time to also try to clean up Dirt Mountain.

I have no insight into MAP or auto manufacturing at scale, and I'm sure I'm missing some important points, but if I were in their shoes, these would be my concerns and thinking just from a business standpoint. In software, we try to learn from process controls in other industries and one I've seen the successful tech companies use is the andon cord, originally implemented by Toyota. I don't know if MAP is using this, but I highly doubt it. Dirt Mountain wouldn't exist at all if it did, it seems to me.

Anyway, that's a lot of text. Last thought is, if I'm honest, I don't know that I want them to build mine right now given these issues. I'd be hesitant to do any serious off-roading, or even regular driving through areas without cell service (national parks). If they need 2, 3 or even 6 months to implement process changes, source better vendors for unreliable valves, or whatever, and to deliver quality builds, I'd prefer they do that now and build me a vehicle I can trust to not leave me stranded.
dirt mountain and all should be cleared up.. plant was shut down for couple weeks or so.
 

Razorbak86

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If they need 2, 3 or even 6 months to implement process changes, source better vendors for unreliable valves, or whatever, and to deliver quality builds, I'd prefer they do that now and build me a vehicle I can trust to not leave me stranded.
The cost of downtime in automotive manufacturing is enormous…

“It’s estimated that 1 minute of downtime costs automotive manufacturers $22,000 or $1.3 million per hour. Some estimates ran as high as $50,000 per minute.”

Plus the union workforce has a contract that pays the employees a large percentage of their normal wages (say 75%) during downtimes.

Therefore, any process changes would either be implemented as a running change, while the plant is already in production in a model year, or at the beginning of a new model year. Hence the terms Job 1, Job 2, Job 3, etc. Job 1 is when the first vehicle of a given model year comes off the line. When the manufacturer makes a running change to production during the model year, it’s called Job 2. If the manufacturer implements another running change, it's called Job 3.
 

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THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER
 

Bronco_Mo

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Yep, I’m resigned that my 07/20/20 reservation won’t be arriving until the spring of 2023. 4 door/OBX/Mic/Sasquatch/2.7/Lux ordered 1/2021 and reordered 10/2021.
You must have ordered from Grainger......
 

MontanaMountainMan

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The cost of downtime in automotive manufacturing is enormous…

“It’s estimated that 1 minute of downtime costs automotive manufacturers $22,000 or $1.3 million per hour. Some estimates ran as high as $50,000 per minute.”

Plus the union workforce has a contract that pays the employees a large percentage of their normal wages (say 75%) during downtimes.

Therefore, any process changes would either be implemented as a running change, while the plant is already in production in a model year, or at the beginning of a new model year. Hence the terms Job 1, Job 2, Job 3, etc. Job 1 is when the first vehicle of a given model year comes off the line. When the manufacturer makes a running change to production during the model year, it’s called Job 2. If the manufacturer implements another running change, it's called Job 3.
That's really interesting. Thanks for that explanation.
 

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MnLakeBum

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You must have ordered from Grainger......
Nope, a large dealer in the Twin Cities(population of 3.7 million). I got impatient and ordered a second Bronco without the Sasquatch and MIC top from the same dealer on 12/09/21 and took thankfully took delivery on that one April 14th. My adult daughter will buy my current OBX/2.7/LUX/leather Bronco when my original order comes in. So far, 6,000 miles of fun while waiting for the other one.

Ford Bronco ⏰ No Bronco Scheduling Next Week (7/25) E512F6B4-B8F3-416A-A9AA-F52224085719
 
 


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