Ford to build 30% more of its Focus small cars this year

A year ago, Ford Motor's sprawling assembly plant in Wayne, Mich., which builds the Focus compact car, was on the chopping block as part of the automaker's restructuring plan, putting the lives of its 3,000 workers in flux.

But now — as the struggling U.S. economy has consumers on the hunt for affordable, fuel-efficient cars — the 56-year-old plant and its workers are running a full-out effort: two 9-hour shifts on weekdays, plus some Saturdays to keep up with increasing demand on the redesigned Focus.

Focus sales are up 23% overall through March — exceeding even Ford's expectations. In March, retail sales of the Focus, which exclude discounted fleet sales to rental-car companies and other bulk deliveries, were up 35%.

The new Focus, which is Ford's only small car for sale in the United States, is the third best-selling small car in America, behind the No. 1 Honda Civic and No. 2 Toyota Corolla. The redesigned car is taking 7.6% of the U.S. small car market.

"I think it's phenomenal," said Brian Scott, 33, a quality leader on the trim line at Wayne Assembly. He has worked for Ford for 14 years.

"We've been pumping these cars out like crazy," he said as a hi-lo truck whizzed by with parts for the line, which is building about 56 cars an hour. "Our morale is so high right now."

Ford launched the new Focus in October with a new exterior, a substantially upgraded interior, as well as the optional Sync, Ford's exclusive hands-free communications and entertainment technology, developed with Microsoft.

Focus production is slated to be up 28% this year, compared with a year ago, said Dale Wishnousky, the plant manager at Wayne. That's putting workers there in a mood some haven't enjoyed for a while at Ford, which has lost $15.3 billion over the past two years.

With the U.S. economy on the brink of a recession, consumers have been on the hunt for cars like the Focus, which starts at $14,395 and gets 28 mpg in combined city-highway driving. That's 24 mpg in the city and 33 mpg on the highway for an automatic transmission or 35 mpg for a manual, according to federal regulators.

Overall, Ford's sales are slumping along with the rest of the industry: Total U.S. vehicle sales have fallen 8%, and Ford sales are down 9%. But sales of small cars are up 3.4% so far this year, with the Focus leading the charge.

The Focus pulled ahead of the Chevrolet Cobalt last month. The Cobalt is still within 1,000 sales of the Focus this year, but Cobalt sales have been increasing at about half the pace of the Focus. Through March, the Cobalt was up 14.5%.

Workers at Wayne couldn't be more proud of the performance.

"The Focus outsold the Toyota Prius and Chevy Malibu last month, noted John Jedrzejek, 58, of Westland. He has worked at Ford for 35 years and now audits the quality on two Focus cars a day.

Paul Reed, 40, a quality leader on the door-assembly line at the Wayne plant, said workers are redoubling their efforts to make sure the quality on every car is right, so consumers can feel good about buying a Ford again.

"I think people are appreciating their jobs a little more," he said, noting the economic troubles plaguing Michigan, and increasingly, the country.

For Ford, he added, "this is one of the big hitters."

While Ford has not added a third shift to accommodate increasing demand of the Focus, Wishnousky said the plant will be on "maximum overtime" for its two shifts, in an effort to crank out enough cars to meet demand.

"I don't know that we anticipated that," Wishnousky said.

Larry Fields, 39, of Redford Township has worked at Ford for 18 years and credits Ford's management with making the right strategic decisions with the new Focus. He had not expected the vehicle to sell as well as it has, but the success has emboldened his faith in the company.

"I think Ford will be fine," he said.

The optional Sync technology has been one of the huge drawing points for the Focus. In marketing materials on the Focus website, Ford pitches the car this way: "35 mpg. Six air bags. Fully equipped at $17,000. And it talks."

Jim Sierzega, who works in the area that prepares vehicles for delivery, said about 40% of the Focus cars are ordered with Sync.

"It's been steadily increasing," he said.

But workers also said that Ford's decision to add upgraded options to the Focus also has helped the vehicle sell well. Those options include leather upholstery, heated seats, ambient lighting and upgraded wheels — features that are not always available in the mainstream compact car segment.

"There's a lot of factors associated with this success," Wishnousky said.

Ford's reputation for increasing quality and standard safety features may be factors, too.

The Ford Focus is one of the early vehicles to be developed under the Global Product Development System being put in place by Derrick Kuzak, Ford's group vice president for global product development. Ford's internal data shows that the quality is 13% better than the previous model.

Ford says 45% of the Focus customers are new to the Ford brand and that the car is capturing the attention of younger buyers. The percentage of 16- to 35-year-olds buying the Focus, meanwhile, has grown from 26% in 2007 to 30% in 2008.

To Scott, the quality leader on the trim line, consumers are finally starting to realize what autoworkers like him have known for some time: "Our stuff is as good, if not better, than the competition."

 

30% thats a lot.

I though the car industry was slowing down.

There seems to be a lot of lay offs at manufactures lately.