Ford has been destroying itself from the inside for years/decades. In order to fill their quotas in engineering they take people with business degrees and put them into engineering positions with no technical skills. The result is cost cutting and poor quality. An engineer can be a bean counter but a bean counter cannot be an engineer. For a long time and still, development engines have/are being rebuilt with old parts because the bean counters say the new parts are too expensive. Later, no one is ever held responsible for recalls. Don't think for a minute that EV development is immune to this.
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@7qq
Engineering manger? Is that like the manger Jesus was laid in after He was born?
I had an engineering manger with associate in art 10 years a go. I did leave actually ran.
i have met MS graduates from U of M who couldnt tie their shoes an lacked common sense and people skills. I have met many more skilled trades people in Engineering that were the cream of the crop.
newsflash, in germany before you can become an engineer you have to be in skilled trades for 5years.
As a previous poster stated, your experience does not match mine. Nearly every PD engineer I knew (before Conway and the low cost country outsourcing) had multiple engineering degrees. It was not until BCG came in and we started separating them or moving them to non-engineering areas that the internal damage started. I witnessed many engineers moved to EPLM, and they were incapable of planning. Bottom line - people are not widgets. Everyone has a skill set that should be used where it can be most effective.
The old school toolmakers were a special breed of their own.
From what I have seen, certain people are placed in {engineering positions} so they can check the box and be moved up the ladder. The problem is the damage they leave in their wake.
My father started at Ford as an apprentice tool and die maker. After WW II, he attended Henry Ford Trade School and became an engineer. Lots of Ford engineers came up that way without a college degree.
Fortunately the company transformation is addressing this. We have added much needed outside talent and leadership to lead the company forward, especially where it is most important, in Model e. The company will not fall into the ways that the OP describes any more.
I can't think of a single Engineer in my area that doesn't have a Bachelor's in some type of Engineering. Your experience at Ford does not match mine.
I see that the new Ford Lightning doesn't meet it;s claimed specs, and it's performance is questionable under light loads or cold days. At $52K and going up from there, I can see no reason to buy a Ford.
greed