Jim Hackett succeeded Mark Fields as president and CEO of the Ford Motor Co. on May 22, 2017, allegedly because (1) Fields was said to have had problems articulating a vision for the company, and (2) the stock of Ford wasn't doing particularly well, and perhaps by doing a better job at (1) Hackett could move (2) in the right direction.
As for (2), things haven't worked out so well. Although there was some initial upward movement under the Hackett regime, with the stock hitting $13.20 on Jan. 5, 2018, a high it hadn't seen since 2016, now it is bumping along below $9 per share.
Which brings us back to (1), the Hackett vision for Ford.
In a front-page story on Hackett in the Feb. 24 Detroit Free Press, reporter Phoebe Wall Howard writes: "Discussions with more than a dozen current or recently departed workers who interacted regularly with Hackett say he is critical of performance without providing clear direction. All the while, they say, a parade of consultants offers more unclear advice. ... Some colleagues say they continue to find his conduct baffling."
But maybe Hackett just hasn't been consistent in articulating his vision for Ford and making that vision tangible.
In a post on Medium coincident with his presentation at the 2018 CES, Hackett wrote, "Now is our opportunity to reclaim the streets for living — to take major leaps in the direction of building a true City of Tomorrow and re-imagine how our streets and cities function much more efficiently. With the power of AI and the rise of autonomous and connected vehicles, we have technology capable of a complete disruption and redesign of the surface transportation system for the first time in a century."
Clearly any exposure Hackett has had to Silicon Valley has affected his rhetoric, because while the above sounds like something Mark Zuckerberg might say, it is somewhat extreme for the head of a company that makes most of its money selling pickup trucks.
And that's the key right there: F-Series trucks.
And logistics. The future of Ford may be found in logistics. Which means trucks.
The rise of Amazon has had an effect on the "surface transportation system," as there is an increased amount of digital purchases being made. In cities like New York, people who might have hopped on the subway to go get groceries can rely on their Prime accounts to get home delivery. Which means more delivery trucks on the streets, which make it even more difficult for pedestrians.
Realize that Amazon probably didn't invest $700 million in Rivian simply because it is developing electric vehicles. The product that it is developing that is garnering the most attention is a truck. Amazon is predicated on trucks.
And Ford is predicated on trucks. Not just the F-Series, but Transit vans as well.
And here's what Hackett may be actually getting to: In London, Ford has launched a trial digital delivery system, working with an urban parcel courier firm, Gnewt by Menzies Distribution.
Ford has developed MoDe:Link, which it describes as "intelligent cloud-based, multi-modal routing and logistics software."
And this software is being used in the delivery trial to determine the best places where vans carrying goods can park so that couriers who travel on foot or, eventually, by bicycle can acquire packages that can be delivered within the proximate area, thereby reducing street congestion.
Explains Tom Thompson, project lead at Ford Mobility, "Our goal is to keep larger vehicles like delivery vans operating in the high-load, less-congested environments in which they perform best. However, for the last mile of a journey into an urban area, where congestion and lack of parking can be a challenge, it makes sense to offload deliveries to more nimble, efficient and cost-effective modes of transport."
That is something Ford can provide — not only the vehicles for the first mile, but the vehicles for the last, along with the intelligent software that can tie it all together. And as deliveries increase, so could Ford income and earnings.
Speaking to the Free Press about how he sees the future of transportation, Hackett said, "It's about the connectivity, the artificial intelligence in the cloud and edge computing."
It seems to be accepted wisdom that the auto industry is going to undergo as much transformation in the next 10 years as it did in the past 100. Yet much of that thinking is predicated on simply doing the same thing — supplying cars and trucks — with an electrical and digital spin.
But perhaps Jim Hackett, outsider to the industry, sees something wholly different going forward, where an OEM isn't about wrapping batteries and sensors in sheetmetal, but digitally driving changes in infrastructure — and where Ford's developing knowhow in software and systems, combined with its traditional knowhow in trucks, can place it in an enviable position.
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As for (2), things haven't worked out so well. Although there was some initial upward movement under the Hackett regime, with the stock hitting $13.20 on Jan. 5, 2018, a high it hadn't seen since 2016, now it is bumping along below $9 per share.
Which brings us back to (1), the Hackett vision for Ford.
In a front-page story on Hackett in the Feb. 24 Detroit Free Press, reporter Phoebe Wall Howard writes: "Discussions with more than a dozen current or recently departed workers who interacted regularly with Hackett say he is critical of performance without providing clear direction. All the while, they say, a parade of consultants offers more unclear advice. ... Some colleagues say they continue to find his conduct baffling."
But maybe Hackett just hasn't been consistent in articulating his vision for Ford and making that vision tangible.
In a post on Medium coincident with his presentation at the 2018 CES, Hackett wrote, "Now is our opportunity to reclaim the streets for living — to take major leaps in the direction of building a true City of Tomorrow and re-imagine how our streets and cities function much more efficiently. With the power of AI and the rise of autonomous and connected vehicles, we have technology capable of a complete disruption and redesign of the surface transportation system for the first time in a century."
Clearly any exposure Hackett has had to Silicon Valley has affected his rhetoric, because while the above sounds like something Mark Zuckerberg might say, it is somewhat extreme for the head of a company that makes most of its money selling pickup trucks.
And that's the key right there: F-Series trucks.
And logistics. The future of Ford may be found in logistics. Which means trucks.
The rise of Amazon has had an effect on the "surface transportation system," as there is an increased amount of digital purchases being made. In cities like New York, people who might have hopped on the subway to go get groceries can rely on their Prime accounts to get home delivery. Which means more delivery trucks on the streets, which make it even more difficult for pedestrians.
Realize that Amazon probably didn't invest $700 million in Rivian simply because it is developing electric vehicles. The product that it is developing that is garnering the most attention is a truck. Amazon is predicated on trucks.
And Ford is predicated on trucks. Not just the F-Series, but Transit vans as well.
And here's what Hackett may be actually getting to: In London, Ford has launched a trial digital delivery system, working with an urban parcel courier firm, Gnewt by Menzies Distribution.
Ford has developed MoDe:Link, which it describes as "intelligent cloud-based, multi-modal routing and logistics software."
And this software is being used in the delivery trial to determine the best places where vans carrying goods can park so that couriers who travel on foot or, eventually, by bicycle can acquire packages that can be delivered within the proximate area, thereby reducing street congestion.
Explains Tom Thompson, project lead at Ford Mobility, "Our goal is to keep larger vehicles like delivery vans operating in the high-load, less-congested environments in which they perform best. However, for the last mile of a journey into an urban area, where congestion and lack of parking can be a challenge, it makes sense to offload deliveries to more nimble, efficient and cost-effective modes of transport."
That is something Ford can provide — not only the vehicles for the first mile, but the vehicles for the last, along with the intelligent software that can tie it all together. And as deliveries increase, so could Ford income and earnings.
Speaking to the Free Press about how he sees the future of transportation, Hackett said, "It's about the connectivity, the artificial intelligence in the cloud and edge computing."
It seems to be accepted wisdom that the auto industry is going to undergo as much transformation in the next 10 years as it did in the past 100. Yet much of that thinking is predicated on simply doing the same thing — supplying cars and trucks — with an electrical and digital spin.
But perhaps Jim Hackett, outsider to the industry, sees something wholly different going forward, where an OEM isn't about wrapping batteries and sensors in sheetmetal, but digitally driving changes in infrastructure — and where Ford's developing knowhow in software and systems, combined with its traditional knowhow in trucks, can place it in an enviable position.
Related Video:
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