No automaker in America went through as many recalls in 2022 as Ford. It initiated the most recalls, which also affected the most vehicles, and was behind the single biggest recall of the year, according to data gathered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. So it should not come as a surprise that it is now taking big steps to improve quality.
Ford is starting with its Kentucky Truck Plant, where it makes the F-250 and F-550 Super Duty trucks, as well as the Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator. There, it has done something that would likely feel unimaginable to the managers at other plants. The automaker shut down production for as many as three days this year in order to hunt down production troubles, reports Reuters.
“We would shut the build down if we weren’t meeting one of the targets” for quality, said Joseph Closurdo, the manager of the Kentucky Truck Plant. The pauses allowed engineers and suppliers to fix the defective parts that workers found.
Shutting down a plant (rather than simply fixing vehicles that come off the line with issues) can cost a company millions of dollars, but it is a new measure that Ford is taking in its pursuit of improved quality.
Read: The Biggest Recalls And The Most Recalled Automakers Of 2022
Ford has added 300 quality inspectors at the plant, as well as more engineers, to find the root causes of problems before they lead to frustrated customers or recalls.
When the latest generation of Super Duty trucks was introduced, the automaker also threw people at the problem. Rather than testing a small sample of vehicles, Ford deployed workers to test drive the first 28,000 trucks on a 25-mile (40 km) route around the factory. Workers were told to touch every button they could find to make sure that they all worked.
The company is also now using cameras that can determine whether an electrical connector is properly connected. There are also more screens throughout the plant, where engineers can keep an eye on quality.
Additionally, Ford planned its production rollout strategically. It started by building the simplest trucks, introducing more complexity later on with trims like the Tremor, which have more electronics, and more things that could go wrong.
It appears that Ford is taking a long-term view, betting that improving quality will lead to more sales overall and help prevent it from spending billions on warranty claims, as it did in 2022. The lessons learned in Kentucky will be rolled out to Ford’s other plants, and will hopefully help the automaker shed its title as the automaker with the most recalls in America.
