Ford uses 25% more engineers doing same work as rivals, Farley says

[kennethjk]

Per automotive news

Ford Motor Co.’s engineering ranks may bear the brunt of additional job cuts the automaker has alluded to in the wake of disappointing earnings, judging from CEO Jim Farley’s latest interview.

“It takes us 25 percent more engineers to do the same work statements as our competitors,” Farley said on “Cars & Culture with Jason Stein,” a SiriusXM radio show that will air the interview on Friday. “I can’t afford to be 25 percent less efficient.”

I guess that says it all about Fords engineers

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[KevinS]

This is a legacy car maker in the midst of a complete revolution (hence the split of Model e and Ford Blue.) No doubt he needs to make statements like this to justify the radical changes being made.

 

[vortix]

This is a legacy car maker in the midst of a complete revolution (hence the split of Model e and Ford Blue.) No doubt he needs to make statements like this to justify the radical changes being made.

Agreed. Eventually it won't be feasible to invest engineering, R&D, etc. resources in both Model e and Ford Blue.

 

[Logal727]

Definitely what you need is overworked engineers, that'll do it

 

[Blue highway]

Definitely what you need is overworked engineers, that'll do it

How many ICE powertrain engineers to you need for an EV? I bet its a lot less.

Automatic transmission - no
Emissions - no
Engine Control system - no
fuel system - no
Cooling - less

 

[Jimrpa]

What is interesting is that I have lost count of the number of “revolutions” Ford has gone through over the years. Jacques Nassar and his “house of brands”, Alan Mulally (the “good one”), Mark Fields (ooops), the Steelcase guy (I guess he was a nice guy?), and now Jim Farley. Every one of them had a grand vision for Ford (which was usually contradictory to the last “grand vision”).

 

[Ride_the_lightning]

If they are truly leading the way with EVs like they say, that would be an advantage.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Farley is feeling the financial burn from a numbers perspective, but firing 25% of the engineers and making a toxic workplace skating on thin ice isn’t going to help anyone. He should offer voluntary layoffs and additional performance bonuses to those that want to stay. I think Ford needs to snag some new engineers that really want to work on EVs too. They should be partnering with the good engineering schools. “Come work for Ford designing new electric vehicles” or something.

If he keeps cutting and restructuring like crazy he’s going to run the company into the ground from lack of qualified people and the remainder being overwhelmed. Mistakes are going to go up, quality will go down, and things will take even longer than now.

 

[Logal727]

How many ICE powertrain engineers to you need for an EV? I bet its a lot less.

Automatic transmission - no
Emissions - no
Engine Control system - no
fuel system - no
Cooling - less

Was he talking Model E or the whole company?

 

[Logal727]

Farley is feeling the financial burn from a numbers perspective, but firing 25% of the engineers and making a toxic workplace skating on thin ice isn’t going to help anyone. He should offer voluntary layoffs and additional performance bonuses to those that want to stay. I think Ford needs to snag some new engineers that really want to work on EVs too. They should be partnering with the good engineering schools. “Come work for Ford designing new electric vehicles” or something.

If he keeps cutting and restructuring like crazy he’s going to run the company into the ground from lack of qualified people and the remainder being overwhelmed. Mistakes are going to go up, quality will go down, and things will take even longer than now.

I think Ford has always done buyouts hasn't it? Maybe that's just union members.

 

[Blue highway]

Was he talking Model E or the whole company?

He is responsible for the whole company so, that's my guess.

My point above is that it's possible to have a lot of engineers that are not relevant to your current development efforts which can be expressed as "engineering costs 25% more than competitors"

 

[Pioneer74]

I think Ford has always done buyouts hasn't it? Maybe that's just union members.

They've done it for salaried too. They got a 1000 to retire last year when they informed them that their lump-sum retirement option were going to be reduced.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...e-pension-warning-interest-rates/10858144002/

The lump sum for 2023, according to the Ford memo, would decrease by an estimated 20% to 25% relative to the lump sum values that Ford employees would get if they took it in 2022.

For example, if someone is looking at a $500,000 lump sum payout in 2022, the loss in 2023 could be in the range of $100,000 to $125,000.

 

[ChuckA]

How many ICE powertrain engineers to you need for an EV? I bet its a lot less.

Automatic transmission - no
Emissions - no
Engine Control system - no
fuel system - no
Cooling - less

Agree, this is “right sizing”. Ford will cut the engineers they don’t need and then hire the correct ones.

 

[HGxxx]

I hope they don't go ballistic and do knee jerk reactions

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

Farley is feeling the financial burn from a numbers perspective, but firing 25% of the engineers and making a toxic workplace skating on thin ice isn’t going to help anyone. He should offer voluntary layoffs and additional performance bonuses to those that want to stay. I think Ford needs to snag some new engineers that really want to work on EVs too. They should be partnering with the good engineering schools. “Come work for Ford designing new electric vehicles” or something.

If he keeps cutting and restructuring like crazy he’s going to run the company into the ground from lack of qualified people and the remainder being overwhelmed. Mistakes are going to go up, quality will go down, and things will take even longer than now.

Interesting. I read “It takes us 25 percent more engineers to do the same work statements as our competitors” [emphasis added] more as a Ford process issue than a let's-fire-a-quarter-of-our-engineers issue. But I totally agree that if there are massive layoffs in the engineering teams, or even "just" fears of layoffs, it would wreck havoc.

I do love your idea of aggressive recruitment of new/young engineers out of great engineering schools. Not long before I retired, the company I worked for made an aggressive push to hire straight out of schools rather than the former focus of mid-career hires. It brought so much energy and excitement to work. I loved it! (Though I'll admit Millennials can be just a bit challenging at times. ?

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