Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant Field Tests New Quality Strategy

Kentucky Truck added 300 quality inspectors and more engineers to pinpoint the root cause of defects and designed new digital tools to spot problems before trucks pass the end of the line.

Workers now use cameras to send images of electrical connections to software so they can determine if the connectors are connected properly.

A command center was built around the factory with screens larger than many sports bars, all displaying data from the various assembly stations. Her single command center with 16 screens is known as Claire’s Corner because it was designed by process engineering manager Claire Yarmak.

“The complexity of this vehicle is huge,” says Yarmak. New comfort features, such as reclining the front seats into a sleeping position, create new opportunities for trouble. When a sensor attached to the Yarmak’s screen detected a sensor defect in the sleeper seat, the line stopped.

Instead of commissioning a small sample of trucks to check for squeaks, rattles, or infotainment system glitches (issues that lower scores in external quality surveys), Kentucky Truck ran the first Deployed workers to drive 28,000 of the new generation Super Duty. A mile route near the factory.