Different departments in Ford Motor Company used differing software packages which did not interface, creating a condition where coordinated manufacturing and design in the entire company was an impossibility. The challenge was how to redesign and integrate these software systems into a single system for all parts of Ford Motor Company and thereby save millions of dollars in manufacturing costs. This January 1994 workshop was the beginning of the use of Interactive Management to work with the challenge.
Several different Ford departments had already been at work on the problem, and the CAD (Computer Aided Design), the CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing), the CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) and the PIM (Product Information Management) representatives from separate project offices were brought together to try an Interactive Management approach.
The Workshop Plan evolved in late 1993 under John Warfield’s guidance. He and Scott Staley wrote most or all of the plan, sending FAX messages back and forth to each other. Mark Anders, a young man from the Ford Corporate Office, was instrumental as the Workshop Broker and his name was placed on the Plan Report as co-author.
The money to pay for the workshop came from two Ford departments, Bob DeLosh of Ford’s PowerTrain and Pete Sferro of Ford’s Alpha unit. Both Bob and Pete had watched the success of IM in the 1992 workshops done for the Analytical PowerTrain project, and felt it was very worthwhile to try using it for a CAD/CAR/CAE/PIM meeting.
The formal Workshop Plan Report was printed and distributed to the participants in December 1993, a month in advance of what came to be known as the PIMS CORPORATE STRATEGY WORKSHOP. The workshop was held on 11-14 January 1994 at Ford Rouge Office Building in Dearborn. Pages 1-6 of the Workshop Plan Report give background, scope statement, context statement, major outcome sought, planned process sequence, triggering questions, generic questions and names of the participants, broker, facilitators and client. These items are all features planned on and insisted on by Warfield in the creation of an IM Workshop Plan. Attachments to this report are Appendix A (names of Phase 1 Study Team and PDM Working Group members), Appendix B (a PDM Business Case Paper), Appendix C (CCTM October 22 PDM Offsite Meeting Results), Appendix D (Maps to Rouge Office Building Workshop Location), Appendix E (Interactive Management System description). Also in the folder there are some rough draft handwritten pages by the authors showing corrections and revisions.
The participant listing in this report is not complete, some positions were filled in the time remaining before the workshop began. I know I could get all the names if I watched the video and took notes. (By the way, the 14 January 1994 workshop was filmed and is in Warfield Special Collection) Here is the list of names I have from the Planning Report: Sponsors: Bob Delosh & Pete Sferro. Followup Executive & Client: Ray Schaffert Participants: Jane Reed, John DeSantis, Greg Tiley, Rajan Nagarajan, Dan Arbitter, Don Brock, Mark Gray, Mark Anders, Ray Reilly, tbd(B & AO), Ray Gage, tbd (Corp Design), Tom Makowski, tbd (EAO). Facilitation team: Ben Broome, Scott Staley, Dennis Huser, Dan Fagan. The report is listed in the Warfield Collection Finding Aid under this heading: “PRODUCT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (PIM) AT FORD MOTOR COMPANY” 1994 (Box 23 , Folder 10). This Finding Aid date of 1994 is not correct because although the workshop sessions took place in 1994, the Workshop Plan Report date was 15 December 1993, the day it was printed and sent to participants. (R.W, circa 2000)
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