Developing in-house consultants at Ford

EQUIP is an innovative quality programme providing integrated technical and people skills to 6000 Ford engineers across Europe. Quality methodologies such as Statistical Process Control, Experimental Design and Quality Function Deployment had to be adopted throughout the organisation in order to reduce warranty costs and improve the quality of Ford vehicles. In order to maximise its acceptance, EQUIP is managed by Ford engineers rather than external trainers. These specially trained engineers have a dual role as internal consultants supporting real-life projects and as trainers delivering programmes. Never before had engineers been targeted for education of this scale and sophistication so the development of the in-house resource was a critical step in Ford's strategy.

A careful selection process identified those engineers with relevant technical experience and inter-personal skills. As a result over sixty engineers from the UK, Germany, Belgium, Spain and France were seconded to EQUIP for two years. They entered in groups of 12 at intervals of 6 to 9 months for an extensive training programme that took place in the UK and Germany. Because SyCon - The Sporting Bodymind Group had contributed to the design of EQUIP, our primary job was to teach the relevant people skills so that the consultants could in turn teach them to their colleagues. Additionally SyCon - The Sporting Bodymind Group was responsible for the development of presentation, group leading and facilitation, and consulting skills. We did so through a series of carefully planned sessions that allowed the trainees to model the desired behaviour, give and receive feedback and use their own group as a learning environment. Other experts ensured that the consultants developed an advanced technical knowledge of relevant quality methodologies.

Outcomes:
Ford benefited by creating a comprehensive in-house resource that was eventually capable of managing its own training development. The EQUIP consultants delivered training that was widely acknowledged to be the most successful and relevant ever offered within the company. They achieved such a positive response in training courses largely because participants valued being taught by their peers. As a consequence Ford achieved its objectives and increased the application of new methodologies. The consultant's on-tap expertise made a direct impact on a number of projects throughout Europe that resulted in substantial cost savings and quality improvements.

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