Ford Hires a Chief Transition Officer

Last month, we brought you news about Ford CEO Jim Farley lamenting to investors that his company was number one – in recalls. At the time, he refused to place all the blame at the convenient feet of the world’s supply chain, instead pledging some company overhauls – perhaps at the personnel level.

Enter one John Dion, a corporate boss who has apparently implemented so-called ‘lean systems’ at other large companies. His title? Chief Transition Officer.

According to the company, Dion will oversee the global deployment of methodologies and tools based on Lean manufacturing and related concepts, capabilities that are central to realizing the value-creation and growth potential of the company’s Ford+ plan. That’s a lot of PR word salad, but the upshot is the company seems intent on righting the ship in terms of quality and production consistency.

“Henry Ford was doing Lean manufacturing decades before anyone even defined the term,” Farley said. “High value and quality, continuous flow, rooting out waste,” he continued. “John’s an expert in all of the principles of Lean, and he and his team will provide our culture the urgency, guidance and support we need to reassert and raise Ford’s reputation for excellence, thrift and growth.”

Cars appear nowhere on Dion’s resumé, which could be very good or very bad. Past outsider hires in this industry have been a mixed bag at best. His most recent role was VP at a fabrication and specialty gas-control technology company; prior to that, he spent 24 years at a global science and technology company called Danaher. It was in that job he directed the application of kaizen-based Lean manufacturing. This is what he’s hired to do at Ford, reporting directly to Farley. 

An estimated 60 percent of Ford’s electric vehicle customers are said to be new to the brand, with Dearborn’s EV growth coming at about twice the rate of the all-electric segment in general. Work needs to be done in most corners of the enterprise, however, with EVs not immune to quality problems (see: F-150 Lightning battery flap) and some of their most popular gasoline-powered models failing to even come close to meeting demand (here’s lookin’ at you, Bronco).

Dion starts his new job on April 3.

[Image: Ford]

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