Manufacturing Industry
Back to the Future At Ford
Quality Progress, March, 2005 by Smith, Larry R
In the movie Back to the Future, Michael J. Fox travels back in time to the 1950s in a modified DeLorean. Once there, he must reestablish a certain sequence of events so he can move forward to the future.
Although he was not about to drive a DeLorean anywhere, Nick Scheele, COO of Ford Motor Co., announced in August 2001 the company would move forward by "going back to basics." In a September 2001 town hall meeting he was asked, "What do you mean by going back to basics?" To appreciate his reply, let's use a time machine of our own to go back in time and consider the major system trends that have affected American industry over the past three pivotal decades.
Although the timing and specific details of particular trends will differ from industry to industry, what Ford...
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