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Automotive Industry

Tackling the T-Bird

Automotive Industries, July, 2001 by John McCormick

New suppliers, new manufacturing technologies and new challenges are all part of Ford's new Thunderbird.

Although the 2002 Thunderbird is a small volume, niche program, the story of its development sheds new light on Ford Motor Co.'s latest approaches to engineering, manufacturing, supplier relationships and quality management Heading the engineering team on the high-profile new Thunderbird is Nancy Gioia, previously chief engineer for Ford's former heavy truck division. Automotive Industries recently spoke with Gioia about the T-Bird's design and engineering program.

Q: What do you see as this program's main engineering achievements?

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A: There were a lot of challenges presented in going from a very good (DEW98 sedan) platform to a 2-door, 2-seat convertible. Coming up with a sound structural approach was obviously a major issue. Also, we changed the angle of the windscreen (it was steeper originally) and put more wrap in the glass, so designing an A-pillar header and working with the glass supplier on technical execution was a big challenge.

We also worked hard at achieving the whole concept of relaxed sportiness in terms of the handling. Whereas with structural analysis we have marvelous CAE models and correlations, when you get down to final suspension tuning, your modeling gets you within a range, but then it is a matter of what is the optimum combination; if you tie the chassis down too much then you don't like the head toss, if you back it off you don't like the float. That phase needed many, many hours.

Q: What new manufacturing methods are employed with this program?

A: We are using some new technology on body sides. Instead of traditional die line-ups, which have five or six dies to make some of the larger bodyside components, we used what we call a single stage finishing press. This is a combination of laser cutting and a single stage press, which runs at a slower rate. It cuts our die line-up from five to two.

It's a new process Ford will be using in the future; laser cutting capability is much more flexible from a tooling perspective and saves time.

Q: What sort of problems arose during the development process?

A: We had an issue where we started with one supplier partner and found their technology and approach was not going to deliver the result we needed. So we had to start over with someone else, and that was a challenge. It meant we had less time to do engineering work and less time to develop relationships. We had a couple of instances like this.

Q: Who are some of the crucial suppliers?

A: Lear Corp. worked with us extensively on the interior: the seats, door trim, back panel area and integrating pieces from the base platform. Budd Co. provides the hood, decklid, fenders and doors. Because Budd did the body on the original Thunderbird, it's nice to see that relationship continue. Venture Corp. builds the removable top, which is a Thunderbird signature, and we have a new relationship with Precision.com, which supplies the assembled bodysides.

Q: In the light of recent new model launch problems at Ford, how are you ensuring quality at start of production?

A: The relationship with suppliers is very important. We have worked through the entire chain, in many cases from raw material all the way to us, collectively looking at process capability. We implemented what we call our reliability and robustness review, where we sit down with Tier Twos and beyond and go through their design and processes. This started long before program approval, to get their input.

Also, we built all the prototypes on line at the Wixom, Mich., plant, and we did it off 95 percent production assembly tools with about 95 percent of the components coming from hard production tools. That's unusual, but it's important to quality in so many ways.

Automotive Industry

Tackling the T-Bird

Automotive Industries, July, 2001 by John McCormick

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