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FORD USING NEW TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE QUICK QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS

DEARBORN, Mich., July 8, 2002 – Ford Motor Company is using real-time customer feedback obtained and disseminated by Digital Imaging (DI) Technology to make quicker quality-related improvements in its assembly plants.

By using Internet and web-based communications, more than 250 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury dealerships equipped with DI Technology in the United States can submit electronic images, along with a traditional warranty claim, to share specific customer concerns. In addition to quicker and more efficient processing of customer claims and the ability to share ongoing visual feedback with suppliers, the information provided by DI Technology is available to all of Ford's North America assembly plants within 24 hours. This allows for real-time issue identification and resolution by the plants, product engineers and suppliers – a process that previously could have taken weeks or months.

"There is really no simpler or quicker way for the issues customers are experiencing in the everyday use of our products to be shared with our engineers and our plants," says Louise Goeser, vice president of Quality. "The key is how we use that information quickly to solve issues and reduce the number of customers who must be inconvenienced by them."

How It Works

If a customer reports a warranty concern at a dealership, the service technician takes several electronic images of the affected area with a specially equipped digital camera. Customized software, utilizing bar code technology, permanently watermarks the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on the images. The camera is then hooked into a unique computer docking station, which automatically transmits all of the images to a special unit of warranty claims processors located at Ford's Consumer Driven 6-Sigma Center in Dearborn, Mich. Processors review submitted images and supporting customer claim information and respond to every one within 15 minutes, during normal business hours.

All information processed by DI Technology is stored in a central database, which is available on a continual basis to Ford's quality managers, product engineers and Consumer Driven 6-Sigma problem solvers. Customer verbatim comments, correspondence between the dealership and the company's claims processors and accompanying images are all easily accessible via the database. Plants use all available information to further investigate a reported issue and to make on-the-line improvements that can eliminate recurrence of it. Product engineers and 1st Tier Suppliers also can use the information to effectively incorporate customer feedback into design improvements for future products.

DI Technology In Action

Michigan Truck Plant, which manufactures the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator, provides one specific example of how DI Technology was used to quickly address and solve a customer concern. After a claim was processed concerning an area on a Navigator hood with noticeably thin paint, the official report and electronic images shared through DI Technology prompted immediate action by the plant. The plant's quality, paint and automation engineers, along with Consumer Driven 6-Sigma Black Belts together determined that the thin paint was caused by inconsistent flow (a flow fault) from one of the paint automation robots. Automation engineers wrote several new lines of software code for the robots instructing the line to stop completely if there is a flow fault for even a split second. The fix, from the time the plant was notified until it was resolved, took only a couple of days to complete – an action that in the past could easily have taken months to process and implement.

Michigan Truck Plant shared the resolution with all other assembly plants in North America and that particular issue has never resurfaced as a customer concern.

MediaMagic – Ford's DI Technology Partner

MediaMagic, Ford Motor Company's DI Technology co-development partner, is based in Belford New Jersey. The company provides television, digital imaging and high- speed satellite data transmission systems to Fortune 500 companies. MediaMagic's staff has played significant roles in such design innovations as NASA shuttle television, RCA Alaskan Bush Television System, new automated digital imaging systems and worldwide AFRTS television – the first large satellite delivered desktop television system. In addition to being a full-service provider, MediaMagic continues to fund research and development projects in computer and Internet transmission systems.

The Future Is Bright

Ford Motor Company is exploring other relevant applications of DI Technology in various areas of manufacturing, sales and service. Patents are currently pending to include the technology's methods, processes, unique hardware and customized software. In addition, the success and mutual benefits received from its use have prompted Ford Motor Company, through its Commercialization Technology Department of Ford Global Technologies, Inc. and MediaMagic to jointly pursue commercialization opportunities, to other automotive and non-automotive companies. For more information, please visit www.fordbetterideas.com and www.mediamagik.com.

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"The Digital Imaging Sytem worked like a charm! It reduces warranty expenses, improves customer satisfaction and cures dutch elm disease."

-- C.O. Jones, Ford