Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford, has done wonders for them-- Heres his record

[Idealism]

This is my attempt to open some peoples eyes that not every executive of the Big Three are incompetent louts who deserve to be castrated. Here is my offering on Alan Mulally.

Starting as an executive vice president at Boening, Mulally revived that company earlier this decade and is credited for helping them overtake Airbus in market share for aircraft manufacturing. At Ford, he has raised the quality of vehicles to "rival that of Honda and Toyota," according Consumer Reports. Here are some facts:

-Ford outsold Honda by about 850,000 and Nissan by more than 1.3 million vehicles in the United States last year.

-J.D. Power Initial Quality Study scored Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Mercury, Pontiac and Lincoln brands' overall quality as high as or higher than that of Acura, Audi, BMW, Honda, Nissan, Scion, Volkswagen and Volvo.

-Ford's car sales in November, while down, beat every other major competitor at -31%. Honda (-32%) and Toyota (-34%) were record lows for those companies and already have asked Japan for a bailout. Even in the worst times, Ford is a strong brand.

-The most fuel-efficient full-size pickups from GM, Ford and Chrysler all have higher EPA fuel-economy ratings than Toyota and Nissan's full-size pickups.

-For Mulally's performance at Boeing, Aviation Week & Space Technology named him as their person of the year for 2006

-Many of the problems of the auto industry are government created, not a failure of the companies. High state diesel taxes and American public opinion being against push-rod technology mean Fords sporty new subcompact that seats five, offers a navigation system, and gets a whopping 65 miles to the gallon won't be sold in the United States.

-J.D. Power scored the Ford Fusion better than the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry in highest quality mid-size sedan.

-Mulally's cost cutting led to Fords first profitable quarter in two years.

-According to David Champion, the senior director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center, "Ford is doing exceptionally well." He went on to say “This has been a systematic, structural change that we’ve seen within Ford."

Of course there were mistakes at the Big Three, but Alan Mulally has done a good job considering the pile of crap he inherited from Mr. Ford.

Recommended reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Mulally
-Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford
http://www.freep.com/article/20081205/COL14/812050400/?imw=Y
-7 myths about Detroit automakers
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=alAAGrrkztyA&refer=home
-GM, Ford, Toyota Say U.S. Sales Tumbled on Recession
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_37/b4099060491065.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5
-The 65 mpg Ford the U.S. Can't Have
http://www.freep.com/article/20081023/BUSINESS01/81023072
-Consumer Reports Commends Ford

[jwirr]

1. I think that Rachel made a very good point on her show - the car companies

are in trouble not just because they do not know how to run a business but mostly because the banks are not giving credit to buyers and buyers are so far in debt they cannot buy cars. And that is terrifying because if that is true about houses and automobiles - which businesses are going down next. I know that I am buying only necessities because that is all I can afford. The cost of living no longer fits my minimum social security income.

[Idealism]

2. Thats the real problem in this country: wages

If people got paid more, there wouldn't be so many deliquencies or outright defaults. Plus, we wouldn't have had to rely on credit to fuel our spending and we wouldn't have to waste so much money paying 22% credit card interest rates. Wages, since the 70s have been stagnant. Since the 1980s, workers average salary actually declined when adjusted. Thank Reaganomics. Over 110 million people now have "bad credit" in this country, it is a huge part of why people cant get loans to buy cars--even if the banks felt like loaning (which many are hoarding the cash due to their own solvency issues).

[Trajan]

7. Exactly .... Lack of income parity with inflation over decades ...

Has killed the ability of families to buy much of anything, let alone cars and houses ...

I would also point out that credit has masked the lack of buying power of workers as well ... When workers could tap their homes for 'extra cash', using equity loans and refinancing schemes, they didnt press for 'real' wage increases ... The extra cash floating around the economy provided the purchasing power that was missing from actual wages ....

Combine the extreme ramp up of energy, with it's resultant increases in transportation costs for grocery and merchandise ... and we have an economic vise that finally broke the backs of American families in such a way that: It will take many years to rebalance prices, expenses, profits and wages across the board .... I expect deflation to result from the crashing demand and increasing supply ... That is already happening ...

As attractive as 'easy credit' might be ... It has obscured the facts of insufficient family incomes for years .... That game is now over ....

We need WAGES ... Or we wont buy doodleysquat ... NOBODY profits from low wages in the end ...

[ProfessorGAC]

14. No MIddle Class, No Profits

This is one of the all time "well duhs" that the short term thought of financiers has hidden away.

Profitability is NOT obtained by selling to the 1% that has lots of money. Make the middle class small enough and only companies that make necessities have any chance of maintaining profitability.

Then, stock prices fall, dividends get reduced and even the rich folks (and super rich) take a beating.

You'd think this would be obvious to anyone in a management position of any large company. But, it sure doesn't seem to be.
The Professor

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

3. No: See Boeing 787

Mulally is also the genius behind the Boeing 787 which is going to earn Boeing its own date with the bankruptcy judge - it turns out that trying to build a widebody commerical airliner around the outsourcing of as much as possible to subcontractors based on which jurisdictions were offering the most corporate welfare doesn't work very well.

The plane is already two years late and not only has it yet to fly, they can't even figure out how to put the damn thing together without seriously damaging it.

Mulally didn't leave Boeing because he was passed over, Mulally left because he didn't want to be around to blame when the impossible to assemble 787 takes down BCA.

...fulfilling Mulally's vision of global manufacturing partnerships for the 787.

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=comm&id=news/aw010107p1.xml

[Idealism]

4. Funny, the only source you cite praises how great Mulaly was at Boeing and how he turned them around

Heres lots of good ones from your scathing article:

"Not many executives are called upon to play a pivotal role in saving one American icon, let alone two."

"Mulally quickly whittled down Boeing's lineup, eliminating the poor sellers from the McDonnell Douglas stable, but also pulling the plug on some of Boeing's best-known aircraft that were past their prime."

"...the 787, by posting an order book so strong it has forced Airbus to abandon a me-too response and completely revamp its competitor, the A350."

"The 747 had been Boeing's cash cow for three decades. But the company shuffled the second-generation 747-400 off center stage after the Mulally-led 777 family became a more economical and competitive option."

"However, Mulally's leadership has meant more to Boeing than just finding the right product mix. He helped it weather two crises."

"Says Carson, "He turned around an industry that was foundering in 1998."

Not to mention the premise of the article was to award Mr. Mulally with the Person of Year award

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. The article is two years old

Mulally is a reckless outsourcer who launched Boeing on a flight of insanity and then rushed to the exit. If you have been following the news you might have heard "Mulally's vision of global manufacturing partnerships for the 787." for which he is praised in the article has been a disaster.

[Idealism]

6. You fault the guy for taking a pay raise to $18 million/year?

After he already saved the company and overtook their biggest competitor? Jesus christ man, I guess thats not doing enough for you. And according to you he was the sole creator, engineer, and designer of the 787, yet you don't have any proof of this. Makes me a bit wary. The point is he has done a much better job than people like you give him credit for. Keep your personal prejudices out of this post please

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. Booking orders for a plane you can't deliver isn't beating your competitor

it is exposing your company to massive future liability in penalties for missed deliveries. Mulally is reckless - what you are praising him for is the same shell game played by Al Dunlop aka Chainsaw Al who created the illusion of innovation, success and profit all the while leaving a field of landmines ahead in his absence.

Mulally was the driving force behind the 787 outsourcing plan, he believed that Boeing could reap massive profits by building a plane with non-union labor in states and countries that would provide rich subsudies and just put it together in Seattle like a prefabricated whatever. The plan didn't miss a buzzword, it did however miss everything that has been learned about manufacturing since the 19th Century. Now Boeing and Airbus have both had decentralized manufacturing for decades - but farming out work to incompetent outside sub-contractors was new.

I am sure there are some really smart people in Detroit, but Mulally isn't one of them.

[Idealism]

9. So he isn't a good CEO because he tried to implement ways to cut costs?

You are seriously off the reservation if you think a CEO shouldnt look for ways to reduce the overhead in business. Thats the nature of the beast, you ever ran a company? Thanks to him, Ford will turn a profit in a few years while GM or Chrysler may not live to see it. Just FYI you should look up Lockheed Martin or Airbus and see how often production goals are "delayed." It happens frequently in aeronautics. And to blame him for Boeing not producing the plane, even though he left two years ago is rediculous.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

10. so it isn't my fault if you get lost with the directions I gave you?

Cutting costs is just fine and part of any business, distributing outside work based not on the ability of the contractor but the corporate welfare offered by their government is criminal neglegence.

Delays happen for lots of reasons, Airbus had a doozy because two different facilities were using incompatible software. But what the 787 is facing is unprecidented and not a result of a massive engineering failure, or a shortage, or market conditions - it is a result of executive leadership who thought they were smarter than the engineers and machinists and could build a commercial airliner on the cheap.

[DainBramaged]

15. So the supply chain problems and engineering problems are his fault?

New Boeing 787 Jetliner Faces Another Delay


But high expectations for the aircraft have met with some hard realities, mainly the difficulty of producing a plane that relies on technological breakthroughs, like an airframe made from lightweight composite material instead of aluminum. It also relies on a supply chain that stretches across the globe, as multiple suppliers in many countries are producing the more than four million parts that will go into the plane.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/business/06boeing.html?hp

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

16. The supply chain outsourcing problems are 100% his fault

Where do you work that you have zero accountability for your decisions?

Mulally was the mastermind and spiritual leader behind the 787 outsourcing strategy and he pushed it internally against stiff opposition within Boeing and the policy he so aggressively advanced has been a catastrophic failure as the outsourcing partners he lined up based not on their technical competence but their jurisdictions corporate welfare offerings have fallen down on the job.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DainBramaged]

13. You have a personal grudge against the guy or something?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

18. I have a strange aversion to corporate con men

Mulally is no different than Al Dunlop, Jeff Skilling, Bernie Ebbers or the rest - they are celebrated as visionary titans of business only to later be discovered as having been frauds who poisoned the very companies they were celebrated for leading.

The 787 could very easily put Boeing in the same situation as Detroit - and if the purpose of the Detroit bailout is to save union jobs, why are you casting your lot with the very champion of outsourcing value-added manufacturing, especially somebody who did it so poorly.

[DainBramaged]

19. Have you ever looked at the history of the 787?

Know what, this discussion is moot. You hate the guy for some ungodly reason, so I'll just leave it at that and say goodbye.

[JVS]

24. didn't you get the memo?

Supporting unions means supporting CEO's!

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

27. Cultural hegemony at its finest

If they want to be useful idiots and stand in awe of corporate parlor tricks I guess that is their choice. Transient executives have only one priority, pump up the stock by any means possible, cash in and run like hell to work their next miracle hoping they have been forgotten by the time their schemes fall apart.

[regnaD kciN]

11. "Boening"...?

Starting as an executive vice president at Boening...

Uh, that's Boeing. Although I guess the mistake is understandable, since Mulally's superior there had to resign after being caught, uh, boening one of his female executives.

:evilgrin:

[DainBramaged]

12. Honda (-32%) and Toyota (-34%) were record lows for those companies

Honda (-32%) and Toyota (-34%) were record lows for those companies and already have asked Japan for a bailout.

Wahhhhh wahhhhhhh Toyota and Honda are tittie babies asking for a bailout wahhhhhhhh wahhhhhhhhhhh let them fail, wahhhhhhhhhhhhh wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[annabanana]

20. interesting screen name you have

who's halo are you experimenting with?

[Idealism]

21. Reference from a video game

Fallout 2 had a Halo projector that you couldn't get to work lol.

[DainBramaged]

22. DU has a Union projector that doesn't seem to work

:hi:

[Idealism]

23. Working on it boss!

lol

[knitter4democracy]

25. A lot of people I know here in Michigan respect Mulally.

He's pretty decent overall. Ford's cars are the best around (ask me about my Freestyle ;) ), and he's doing his darndest to keep the company going and making good products.

[Idealism]

26. Precisely the point I was trying to shed light on

I saw many DUers just assuming every executive at these companies were complete fools and needed to be removed, but Mulally's done much good in the 2 1/2 years hes been at the helm :)