Consumer-driven Six Sigma saves Ford $300 million.

An Old but a good read, Ford Motor Co. made \"Quality Is Job 1\" a household slogan in the 1980s as it introduced revolutionary new products and used Total Quality Management to drive down costs and capture market share. Lately, however, the No. 2 automaker has been plagued by quality gaffes that have cost it dearly in customer satisfaction and market share. In fact, according to a recent J.D. Power & Associates survey, Ford has fallen behind arch-rival General Motors Corp. in overall quality and now ranks last among the big-seven automakers.

Although Ford has recently faced more than its fair share of very public quality problems, including the Explorer tire debacle, it actually began overhauling its quality process nearly two years ago. As might be expected with an organization with $180 billion in annual revenue and 345,000 employees scattered around the globe, the results take time to show. Ford didn\'t just decide to overhaul its quality processes; it has redefined the way it approaches its business. Instead of acting like the manufacturing behemoth that it is, Ford wants to be known as a consumer products company.>
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