November_December_2021_AMP_Digital

A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 1 1 9 and the first coils quietly began ship- ping to Ford in late August 2015. The bank had held, and the intense cooper- ation between Ford, Alcoa Tennessee, Davenport, the Technical Center and the Customer Center had paid the high- est dividend: Not a single unit had been lost. Alcoa Tennessee had beaten the original launch plan by a full six months and the F-150 was on track to keep its sales crown for the 35th year in a row. In a public sign of their increased col- laboration, Ford and Alcoa announced a partnership to commercialize Alcoa’s Pressure mounted as weeks dragged on without any acceptable solution to the potential loss of nearly 50,000 units and hundreds of millions in profits for Ford. The solution came at a joint working level review meeting: The Dearborn Truck Plant launch plan saw production ramping up slowly at first and then accelerating to full overtime production in early January 2016, in time to cover Kansas City’s own produc- tion ramp-up. If both sides could agree, Alcoa Davenport would go on a full pro- duction schedule at the very start of the F-150 launch in September 2014. Dav- enport’s excess production could be banked, with the stockpile growing un- til demand outstripped supply. From there, the bank would shrink and cover the production gap. However, many open questions remained, chief among them the re- quired size of the bank and the limited shelf life of the metal. A quick computer model confirmed both aspects and that a strict “first in, first out” management of the inventory would work. From there, it was only a question of selling the idea to upper management and re- solving the myriad purchasing issues associated with placing and paying for orders unsupported by production re- quests and storing the massive ton- nages in play. Details were ironed out by early summer 2014, just weeks be- fore the start of F-150 stamping produc- tion. The whole scheme represented a level of mutual trust between the two parties that would have been simply unthinkable three years earlier. Any misstep on either side would result in millions of dollars in losses: Ford need- ed to nail the production ramp-up at all their plants to support consump- tion estimates, while Davenport could not suffer any production disruptions, all the while launching Alcoa Tenn- essee perfectly. STAMPING PRODUCTION BEGINS Stamping production began on schedule at the various stamping plants in late September 2014, with Daven- port running at full production rate. Dearborn Truck exceeded its ramp-up schedule, creating a bit of added ten- sion. Kansas City started on schedule and it too slightly bested its ramp-up. By then it was abundantly clear that Ford Marketing had nailed its demand estimates and Ford was selling every unit. All eyes were now on Tennessee where the equipment was in place and the first coils were going through. ERD was achieved on schedule and the race to qualification was on, under the shad- ow of a now inexorably depleting bank. In the end, all the hard work of the Al- coa Tennessee launch team paid off Ford begins building all-new 2015 F-150. 2015 Ford F-150.