Home   Company   Services   Projects   Glossary   Contact

Project 03: Ford Mondeo Bumper System Design and Production set-up Project title Design and production set-up of a whole front and rear bumper system for Ford Mondeo Company Decoma, a division of MAGNA Location Belgium, Genk and Germany, Köln Client Ford Mondeo Location Belgium, Genk and Germany, Köln Timing, duration Aug. 1998 to Jan. 2001 Value, budget 22 mil. EUR, not including the machinery Brief description of the project Ford Motor Company decided to build a new car model in Genk, Belgium and apply the FSS (Full Service Supplier) system for this build. MAGNA Detroit, globally one of the major suppliers to the automotive industry, got the contract to supply the bumper systems and decided to build a new factory in Genk, opposite to the Ford factory to make the new bumper systems. The Ford Mondeo bumper system consist of the exterior bumper shell, the protection and finishing strips, lamps, radiator grill, the steel beams and crash compensation units, the radiator grill and the various connection and fixing systems. Most of these parts are in plastic, either painted or chromed. As a FSS (Full Service Supplier) it was up to the supplier to organise and preside the meetings within Ford in either Genk or Köln. As a Project Manager, I had the full P&L responsiblility for the overall project. Also, I had the entire "from cradle to grave" responsiblility. My activities included: quotation, contract negotiation, CAD design, styling, CAE and computer simulations, know-how gathering, technical benchmarking, tear down, DOE, FMEA reliability investigation, testing, prototype build, production preparation and coordination, melt flow analysis, tool design and manufacturing, specify the equipment and machines, support to purchase, quality assurance activities, G8D, 6 Sigma, RASIC, project planning and follow up. I orgainsed the coordination and information exchange between the bumper production plant, the Ford car assembly plant, both in Belgium, the sales and design centre and the Ford HQ in Köln, Germany. As an average, I lived and worked 2 or 3 days per week in Köln, Germany. I determined and organised the testing in highly specialised laboratories all over Europe. Most of the destructive tests with a full car body: weather- snowbank- splash- crash- cold impact and other tests. Long term field evaluation of cars. Evaluation and analysis of the results. Immediate actions when targets were not met. Application of BOS/QOS (Business/Quality Operating System) to improve the strategic positioning of the business, the product and the process