Poor Alan Mulally, Ford's new CEO. When it rains, it pours.
I've written here, and here, recently, of Ford's rather interesting, if perilous, changes.
From article in The Wall Street Journal this morning, it appears that Ford is making a combination of the worst choices among its various options on several fronts.
The company is looking to buyout out as much as 30% of its workforce, but is not announcing the termination or sale of any of its auto brands. Further, and one of the reasons for the sudden move to shed employees, is Ford's new forecast that profitability will not be in sight until after 2008, rather than during that year. It turns out, as I wondered last year, in this October post, that Ford is running out of time and money.
Throughout all of this information, I am reminded of Holman Jenkins' stressing how much is already going on at Ford, in an almost unstoppable manner, as Mulally arrives. The plant closings, buyouts, layoffs, and cost-cutting have been either underway or are now culminating in agreements with the UAW.
Then, this week, several senior executive departures were announced. Anne Stevens, a senior North American manager involved in the company's turnaround plans, has left. A few other managers are retiring. To Jenkins' point, were Mulally bringing in his own team, this might be opportune. Instead, he'll be attempting to sail the Titanic short-handed.
When I consider the two articles I cited recently offering free advice to Ford, and the actions announced today, the company's future does, indeed, seem a bit dimmer suddenly. Expensive, cash-consuming labor buyouts on one hand, and the retention of bloated brands, product lines and business units on the other, portray a company still in denial. Perhaps, as Jenkins suggested, a family still in denial.
Based upon today's events, it would seem that Ford, should it survive the next few years, will be a much smaller car company, if it manages to remain independent.
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