Another Outstanding VQR!
5/5/2008

On April 15th Detroit Chassis Plant held it’s first VQR for 2008. The report out was well attended by senior leaders from Ford including Ken Macfarlane, Director – Manufacturing Truck of Vehicle Operations, Rob Stevens, Chief Engineer of Product Development, as well as supplier leadership teams from Dana, Alcoa, and the Ford Windsor Engine Plant.

The report out again highlighted DCP’s drive to zero in all critical areas. The Team went more than 5 months without a recordable injury and we have our sights set on beating our previous record of 639 days. The Team explained that our focus for 2008 is on prevention of near misses and driving these to zero as we have done with actual recordables.

The Team also reviewed the customer quality information and it was clear that the DCP approach is working!

As DCP has adopted the Warranty and Variation Reduction Team (VRT) management for Ford for the F53 Product Line, we have brought the concept of zero into focus for F53! Remarkably some of the sub systems are even showing zero issues. The Team uses the Early Claims information on a daily basis to ensure all issues are captured and contained.

Some time was spent discussing the upcoming plant de-rate as a result of the economic downturn. It was noted that the same Safety Quality and Productivity focus pre-planning was being used for this effort as was used in the 2008 MY launch, which had very favorable results.

Ken Macfarlane once again commended DCP on the favorable results but noted that much of the discussion during the session was related to supplier issues and encouraged the team to become very active on engaging the supply base, especially in light of the reduced volume.

Rob Stevens also congratulated the team on the results and encouraged DCP to maintain it’s vigilance on cutting off issues.

Mike Guthrie challenged the team to step up to world championship levels in all areas of the business. Mike expressed appreciation to Rob and Ken for recognizing the positive impact DCP has had on the reduction of total system cost for Ford and the F53 product line.

William Kirchmeier

Contact: Linda Ratliff, 313-571-2100 x 506, lratliff@detroitchassis.com