Ford Motor CompanyRichard LaJoie

Bryant & Stratton CollegeBuss100JR3

C. Wittke

The Ford Motor Company was born in Dearborn, Michigan in 1903 by Henry Ford. With the birth of the automobile, travel became a lot more easier. This allowed people to travel at their convenience without the hassle of having to stick to a train or bus schedule.

Introduction

Ford Motor Company Organization◦Board of Directors◦Executive Committee◦President◦Executive Vice President

Structure

The Ford Motor Company is a corporation, with a flat structure and is a decentralized organization with a wide span of control.

Structure

Staff Divisions• Industrial Relations Staff• Sales and Advertising Staff•Manufacturing Staff

Structure

Operating Divisions• Lincoln-Mercury Division• Ford Division• International Division(Hounshell, n.d., fiq5.)

Structure

The Ford Motor Company uses the assembly line process to build their vehicles. “ The assembly line is often described as a process that uses machines to move material from one place to another, but in practice, machines are not always needed…

Production

Automotive companies often have assembly lines that begin with raw materials and end five miles away with a completed automobile. A structure for a complex assembly line begins as one main line with stations along it that are fed by lines running

Production

perpendicular to it, with each of these side lines feeding components for the finished product. Although the assembly line has occasionally been considered outmoded, it has survived by repeatedly changing its form (Dictionary of American History, 2003).

Production

Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally came to the company in late 2006, came up with the company’s primary operating plan: “ONE Ford: One Team, One Plan, One Goal.” Mulally would change Ford into a leaner, more efficient, centralized company– something it had never truly been.

Management

Apart from several business decisions, including adding new fuel- efficient models, Mulally’s ONE Ford plan focused on people – employees who had remained after some fairly downsizing (Starner, 2010).

Management

Management

The functions of management range from product planning, location of the facility, supply of materials to be used, labor force, and machinery to be used for the production line. They also determine the placement of the machinery that will provide the best flow of work in the facility.

Management

Management is also responsible for making sure the materials used are routed to the right place for the start of production, they are also in charge of creating the work schedule and assigning the employees to specific work areas.

Felicia Fields, 42, a third-generation Ford employee named as group vice president for human resources and corporate services in March 2008, hit the ground running. As a first act, Fields began consolidating the HR function’s efforts under what is called the “ONE HR” initiative.

Human Resources

She and her team did that in several ways, primarily by standardizing and globalizing as many HR processes as possible, continuing to build on Ford’s desire to be a “great place to work,” solidifying a capable, effective workforce using “a global, matrixed environment”, and finally, achieving labor-cost efficiencies to improve Ford’s competitive advantage (Starner, 2010).

Human Resources

Human ResourcesRecruitment

The recruitment process for Ford is accomplished in many ways, the main one is by going to their corporate careers website. Other ways of recruitment are through the use of social media.

Human ResourcesRecruitment

Some examples of social media sites used are,• Twitter• Facebook• LinkedIn

Human Resources Recruitment

One other way that recruiting takes place, is by word of mouth. By having employees tell their family and friends that Ford is hiring, they have become a part of the recruitment process.

Human ResourcesTraining

The training process for Ford is like any other manufacturing company, new employees are put on the production floor and are trained through the hands on approach. New employees go through a probation period, this is where management decides if the employees are able to perform the job at hand.

Human ResourcesTraining

By training the employees, they are able to develop the skills needed to perform all of the tasks at hand to complete the job. By getting the proper training, the employees feel confident in themselves and can prove to management they can do the job, therefore they get compliments like good job or keep up the good work.

Human ResourcesDevelopment

Ford helps the development of their employees by using web based and classroom training, as well as mentoring and coaching from management.

Human ResourcesCompensation

The compensation of employees is the pay they receive for the work they perform. Other forms of compensation include merit reviews, vacation time, and health insurance.

Marketing

Ford uses different types of marketing strategies, they use advertising, whether it be in a newspaper ad or flyer, or it maybe an ad on tv. Ford also uses social media sites for their marketing as well. Another aspect used is sales promotions, this includes rebates and contests to get the consumer in the door.

FinancialManagement Policies

Ford’s policy includes the growth of shareholder value, business restructuring, improvement of their balance sheet which will be done by supporting the planning, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of their products world wide.

FinancialForecasting

One method that Ford as well as other companies use to forecast their income for the upcoming year, is by using their past financial statements as a guideline to what they can expect in the future.

FinancialShort term financing

Ford took out a $23.5 billion loan in 2006 for which all of the company’s assets were put up as collateral, including its trademark. The final payment of that loan was made earlier this year, resulting in the company’s debt rating being upgraded to investment grade (“Will Ford’s” 2012). The type of loan used for this purpose is called a secured loan.

FinancingLong term

To obtain long term financing, Ford can reinvest company earnings, sell stocks to outside investors, or bring in venture capitalists.

Financial

“While General Motors and Chrysler were heading blindly over the edge of the cliff during the global financial crisis, Mulally steered his company in a very different direction. Almost as soon as he took over at Ford he went out and raised funds using the company as collateral”(Ritson, 2010).

As the price of oil and gas are on the rise, the technology of Flexfuel, Ecoboost and electric vehicles are also on the rise. Therefore the demand for a more fuel efficient vehicle is on the rise. By trying to keep up with the consumer’s demand of these vehicles, supplies are becoming limited. With NAFTA in place, this allows the government

Economic ImpactSupply and Demand

to reduce their spending as well as being able to lower taxes. Therefore this should provide a stable economy.

Economic ImpactSupply and Demand

Economic ImpactKey Indicators

Some indicators that have effected the Ford Motor Company, are the unemployment rate, the ability for consumers to get credit, price of materials, labor costs, just to name a few.

Reference Page

“Assembly Line.” Dictionary of American History(2003). Retrieved April 03, 2013.

Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401800294.html

Reference Page

F-Ford Motor Company Forecast. Retrieved from http://www.money.cnn.com/quote/forecast.html?symb=F

Reference Page

Hounshell, D., A. (n.d.). Ford Automates: Technology and Organization in Theory and Practice. Retrieved from http://www.thebhc.org/publications/BEHprint/v024n1/p0059-p0071.pdf

Reference Page

Ritson, M., (2010, August 13). What Marketers Can Learn From Ford. Branding Strategy Insider. Retrieved from

http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2010/08/what-marketers-can-learn-from-ford.html#.UWnCybXnvbw

Reference Page

Starner, T. (2010, June 2). Ford’s Turn. Human Resources Executive Online. Retrieved from http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/view/story.jhtml?id=439666514

Reference Page

Will Ford’s Debt Make It An Attractive AutoSector Investment? (2012, Nov 21).Seeking Alpha. Retrieved from

http://www.seekingalpha.com/article/024271-will-ford-make-it-an-attractive-auto-sector-investment.html