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 route around the factory.
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