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Ford of Europe: fifteen into one
Ford of Europe Incorporated was registered in Delaware, USA on June 13, 1'967 with the twin objectives of exploiting the advantages of large scale production and of avoiding the pitfalls of duplication. By the 1960s it was becoming very obvious that survival - let alone profit - for the big European motor companies lay in the huge scale production of the major units from which cars are made. This in turn meant that the range of units such as engines, transmissions, rear axles and bodies had to be reduced to the minimum possible number. It no longer made sense for Ford to be making two entirely different V6 engines of similar capacity at Dagenham and Cologne.
Ford of Europe was therefore founded to co-ordinate the activities of Ford's 15 national companies in Europe. From its headquarters at Warley in Essex, it would oversee the long range planning for Europe and it offers each of the national companies the benefits of specialist services, not only in design and engineering, but in marketing, finance and sales.
What Ford of Europe is not, is a dictatorial body in more or less permanent session at Warley telling the heads of the national companies how they should operate. Ford of Europe is not concerned at all with the day-to-day running of its far-flung empire but it is concerned with helping to solve any problems these national companies may have. As a result Ford of Europe top management is almost continually oh the move, not just to talk to company chiefs. Bill Hayden, the Vice-President of Manufacturing - and the first British Vice-President of Ford of Europe, reckons to walk right through every plant he visits and is now as well known to many of the men on the shop floor as to the management.
Chairman of Ford of Europe is John McDougall, who was born in Belfast but went to Detroit when 16 and after attending the Henry Ford Trade School there worked his way up through the Ford organisation as a manufacturing engineer. Joining Ford in 1935 in the Mechanical Design department at the Rouge plant, Dearborn, Michigan, he was later involved in Ford's Liberator bomber plant at Willow Run.
After the war he was much involved in planning the expansion of Ford production overseas, then a spell as manager of the General Parts Division was followed by his return to Europe in 1971 as Vice-President, Manufacturing, Ford of Europe. He was appointed President of Ford of Europe in June, 1973 and Chairman in October, 1975.
President today is Harold A ("Red") Poling, a finance man, but with great experience on the works side, naving been Controller of the Engine and Foundry Division at Dearborn and later Controller of the Product Development Group. He came to Europe as Vice-President, Finance, in November, 1972.
Oddly enough, Ford of Europe has no employees and pays no salaries, for all the people working for it are on detachment from their own national Ford companies in the United States, Germany, Britain and Spain and are therefore on the payrolls of those companies. But wherever they happened to have been born, they have all served Ford in many different countries.....
FORD OF EUROPE
Ford Motor Company Limited (Britain)
Makes Fiestas, Escorts, Cortinas, components.
Ford-Werke AG (Federal Germany)
Makes Fiestas, Escorts, Capris, Granadas and components.
Ford Motor Company NV (Belgium)
Assembles Taunus (Cortina). Makes body panels, road wheels, components.
Ford France SA (France)
Makes Fiesta transaxles, automatic transmissions.
Ford Espana SA (Spain)
Makes Fiestas, Fiesta engines.
Henry Ford and Son Limited, Cork (Eire)
Assembles Escorts, Cortinas.
NV Nederlandsche Ford Automobiel Fabriek (Holland)
Assembles Escorts, Continental trucks.
Ford Lusitana SARL (Portugal)
Assembles Escorts, Cortinas, Capris, Granadas.
Ford Motor Company (Austria) KG (Austria)
Sales network.
Ford Motor Company A/S (Denmark)
Sales network.
O/Y Ford A/B (Finland)
Sales network.
Ford Italiana SpA (Italy)
Sales network.
Ford Motor Norge A/S (Norway)
Sales network.
Ford Motor Company Aktiebolag (Sweden)
Sales network.
Ford Motor Co (Switzerland) SA
Sales network.
Captions -
Middle-Left - The Ford Air fleet of Gulf Streams run scheduled services linking the European plants
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