Ecoboost on backorder from Ford?

[sholxgt]

The company I represent has purchased 4 new factories and runs 2 in China in an attempt to fix the JIT problems.  They have been battling the change for about 10 years and still have not succeeded in my opinion.

The thing that many don't realize about JIT systems is that you need to have a system that is able to produce at a considerably higher volume than if you are stocking inventory to account for the spikes.

If producing to inventory, your system only needs to be able to produce at the average sales rate.  It can just plug along and keep working on stock.  With JIT, the system needs to be able to produce at a rate to meet your absolute PEAK demand.  That demand can also increase at any time.  Once a JIT system gets behind, it's basically screwed for days or weeks.

Did that inventory actually cost more than having to double the production capability?  Not to mention the need for tons of part time/seasonal/temp workers to cover peak times?  What about the cost of unhappy customers?

I am NOT a fan of JIT.  IMHO, there needs to be a crossbreed system where inventory is kept on a limited basis to help pad the system and even the flow of production.

Sorry, back to the original topic...

I would suspect that Ford, like other manufacture's, just underestimate the need for all parts.  It took weeks before I was able to get a simple fuel pump gasket when they replaced the valve cover gaskets.  That was with help from Lincoln.

We know that production have 3.5 EB vehicles hasn't ceased.  I suspect that, like my gasket issue, it's just that all production is going to meet the demand for new vehicles.  It is probably more a sign of the popularity of the vehicles than the need for replacement motors.

[ZSHO]

https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-6007-35T  (Click on chat )IDK.  Z

[hawkeye93]

Is that the transverse or the longitudinal (F150) version?  The throttle body appears to be oriented incorrectly for the transverse.

[SHOdded]

That's the F150/longitudinal version.  Look at the hp/tq ratings.  I saw this page and immediately thought too, HEY, we got transverse crates available, but sadly, no.

[ZSHO]

Here are a couple of articles for ya'll and it looks like there doing pretty well especially the PI Interceptor,supply and demand maybe!!!.1) Chicago assembly plant.http://www.hendonpub.com/resources/article_archive/results/details?id=5384    2)PI Interceptor  http://www.hendonpub.com/resources/article_archive/results/details?id=5475

[Spenser281]

Whatever the case may be, it really sucks.  At this point, there isn't even an ETA on getting one, at least according to the 3 dealerships I've spoken with and a zone rep.  I understand supply and demand, though probably not to the degree that some of you do.  Even if they'd be able to tell me that they are 60 days out from being able to ship them, that would be acceptable.  I would at least be able to have a plan of action on what to do.  I guess I just don't understand.

On a side note, a customer of our's bought a 2012 Mustang GT with a hurt engine.  It had a lower end knock.  Upon teardown, he found it had spun a rod bearing.  He called Ford first to see about just ordering a new crank.  He was told they are on backorder with no ETA.  What gives?

I'm not blaming the ecoboost platform for being weak.  If it was, Ford probably wouldn't be putting it in basically everything.  But I would have to think that with as long as Ford has been around, they have collected years upon years of data.  And one of those data being the average warranty rate/replacement rate on an engine.  If their average warranty rate is, say, 1%, would it not make sense to produce an additional .5-.75%....or even 1%...over and above the engines just going into new cars?

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[AnotherGreenFusion]

The challenge is ending up holding the bag on a bunch of inventory that you can't move, esp if you are using JIT to change things job to job and year to year like they seem to be heading too. Ford has done better than I think even they have expected, sure the pundits wrote some articles about slower sales last quarter but in comparison to the rest of american automakers a slow quarter for ford would be an amazing quarter for GM.


One of the biggest issues with JIT at this time is it does not handle large equilibrium shifts very well. It may take a few years but I expect they will scale with demand in time (further automation will help here IMO). It's just a pain for the time being. As for why you can't get any lead times on parts...I have not been using Ford stuff for long but I get the impression that communication could be a lot better between corporate both internally and between the regional and sales chain folks.