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Is Ford's auto-xchange the "Real Deal?" (Survey Response 6)

Written by: Jon Hansen

Article Overview: In a recent video that was released by The Ford Motor Company, Ford's Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Jim Yost indicated that the company has to "share information in real-time" and therefore can no longer use "the sequential processes” in which there were many “handoffs" and "transfers of information." Yost also emphasized the fact that Ford needs to "integrate much more closely with their customers, supply base and even internally," as well as stressing the importance of making information available to multiple levels of their supply base "simultaneously," thereby eschewing the current "cascade processes that might take days, weeks and even months" to disseminate. To enable you to respond to this question, you can access both the video as well as the corresponding article by contacting the author.

Is Ford's auto-xchange the "Real Deal?" (Survey Response 6)

Pierre, MBA, Experienced Business Professional, Huntsville, U.S.

I'll say yes, it's real, somewhat expected, and something Ford can not back off from.

Years ago, Ford, GM, and Chrysler pushed much of the component engineering to the suppliers. Good news: it cut cost. Awful news: Your competitors will have access to the same technology you have, eliminating some control of features that can give a competitive advantage. And it can create misinformation if people who know the design history leave.

To address potential issues, Ford needed a way to interact with its suppliers, and "auto-xchange" or something like it was inevitable. The key issues is trying to make a competitive advantage out of it.

Ford does need to keep looking at ways to eliminate chimneys, or at least any perception of it. From that aspect auto-xchange will help.

Great question. Thanks for the link.

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Article Tags: business professional, chimneys, chrysler, competitive advantage, component engineering, design history, ford, gm, huntsville, mba, misinformation, perception, question thanks, xchange



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