Ford has been doing some major reshuffling moves in Europe, to not only wait out the economic depression that is still at large on the continent, but also prepare for when it finally goes away, and people have money to spend on cars, again. The plan is to slightly cut production numbers, but increase the diversity of models on offer in coming years, so that the market gets exactly what it needs and whatever is in highest demand.
Along with this, the management side of things has also been looked over (by the even higher management) -iIt too has been hit with the wand of change. Aside from some lower-level moves that won’t really affect the grander scheme of things, there was also a change in the leadership. No, Stephen Odell did not step down as president of Ford of Europe (the Middle East and Africa), but just below him, the position of chief operating officer (or COO) has had a name, face and gender change.
In fact, the post had been vacant for many years, so Ford has chosen (now) former vice president of product development, Barb Samardzich, 54, to fill the position. “She will be responsible for many of Ford of Europe’s operations, including manufacturing, quality, product development, purchasing, and sustainability, environment and safety engineering,” hopefully doing her part in helping the Blue Oval get through the crisis in as good a shape as possible, and preparing it for the more prosperous times too.
She’s a pretty familiar face in the industry, but if you don’t know here, there’s a year-old video of her talking commercial vehicles and answering questions, below.
By Andrei Nedelea
Story References: Ford via Reuters
VIDEO