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Why Ford Performs Line Audits |
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Actual line audit report from the Dearborn Assembly Plant. Ford Motor Company has a vehicle audit process in place in insure that their products meet Job1 product quality requirements. This short article is not to bash Ford's build quality, rather to demonstrate how a small part of the process works. Don't get the two confused. Our documents go back to 27 May 99 when Ford conducted a daily audit of three random Mustangs right off of the assembly line. It's the job of Ford line inspectors to work along with engineers and management to critique a randomly made Mustang. Generally three Mustangs are audited at a time. They can conduct multipe audits during the same day. Ford line inspectors decided that they would require three samples: 1) Base Coupe. 2) Cobra Convertible. 3) GT Coupe to base their audit from. One vehicle this article will focus on is a black 1999 Cobra Convertible with tan leather interior. The auditors record the V.I.N. number, color, trim, transmission, shift, rotation, build date and the model year. The vehicle is then placed in a special room within the plant which allows various groups to inspect the vehicle under certain lighting and controlled temperatures. The temperature is important to the process when measuring body panel fitment. The Cobra that was audited focused on body quality. The auditors found 2 sheet metal fit problems, 1 wavy body panel and 1 body panel alignment problem. The auditors also found that there was a door seal problem. Finally the car was driven around Dearborn where upon a squeak and rattle was discovered. These random audits are critical to the build process by providing Ford with information that might change an assembly process, catch a bad batch of sheet metal or defective parts supplied to Ford by a vendor. It also allows Ford to gauge the build quality that is expected. The Cobra's sheet metal was close to perfect (1) and won't even be noticed by the customer, but the squeak and rattle was found to be a serious issue (9). Did the auditor discover a Mustang that was assembled improperly, was the supplied part defective, was there a problem in the assembly process or is it a design problem? Those are the questions that auditors have to determine and share with various teams, including engineering, design, purchasing and management to prevent other Mustangs from having the same or similar problems. It's not necessarily true that ALL Mustangs made on 27 May will have the same problems as the Cobra noted above. In fact, when the squeak and rattle was fixed, the Cobra's build was close to what Ford expects. But what happens when more serious problems are found? The Coupe that was audited received a much higher score (18.3) than the Cobra's 14.0. The coupe had damaged weather seals, wrinkles in the rear seat and dirt in the paint in 3 very noticeable areas. These problems are easily corrected while the vehicle is still inside the plant. The car is repainted, receives new weather seals and a rear seat cushion. Ford then inspects the seals and seat cushions to see if any other defects in the batches can be found. The white GT coupe didn't do as well as the Cobra and the Base model. It suffered from a damaged front driver's side fender. The auditor also found that the driver's side roof had an "unacceptable" variance that would not meet customer's expectations. The GT was subsequently destroyed. While the audit process is very intensive, it's still possible for some Mustangs to get by with problems that are unnoticed. . .and that's understandable since this plant cranks out 600 new Mustangs every day, five days a week to meet the sales demand! If you own the Cobra noted above. . . .KEEP IT! It's now a part of history. COPYRIGHT 1999 WARNER PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BlueOvalNews.com |
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