FRAMINGHAM (02/02/2000) - Ford Motor Co. and the United Parcel Service of America Inc.'s Logistics Group have teamed up to slash the time it takes to deliver a vehicle from the factory floor to dealerships by as much as 40 percent.
It currently takes Ford 14 to 15 days to deliver vehicles from its factories to customers, company officials said. The companies, however, wouldn't release any financial details of the deal.
In a press conference today, Frank Taylor, Ford's vice president of material, planning and logistics, said the alliance will allow Ford to meet its No. 1 goal of improving customer satisfaction - in part by providing predictable delivery times. It will also reduce transportation, distribution and inventory costs for the automaker.
With the assistance of Atlanta-based UPS, Ford will also "re-engineer its transportation network of rail and road carriers to optimize speed, precision and reliability" for its Ford, Mercury and Lincoln brands, said Taylor.
"We are introducing new management practices, eliminating bottlenecks, minimizing delays and providing information technology systems that greatly improve the monitoring of vehicles across the entire journey to the customer," said Dan DiMaggio, CEO of the UPS Logistics Group.
DiMaggio said in addition to providing the information system, UPS Logistics will also provide Ford dealers, and ultimately its customers, with the capability to track vehicles throughout the entire journey from production to delivery via the Web.
Scheduled to be launched in March, the network will be phased in over a 12-month period, Taylor said. The first phase will focus on the western and southwestern regions of the U.S., eventually expanding throughout the country and into Canada.
The network is expected to be fully operational in 2001, with dealer online systems completed later this year and customer online systems finished soon after.