Today no one thinks to blamed its origins

Last Friday, Alan Mulally was the host of the "Economic Club of Detroit. Pressed, the former boss of commercial Boeing aircraft admitted: when he saw the 787 Dreamliner, his plane off the ground for the first time on December 15, he had tears in their eyes. Silence. The pattern of Ford to oblivion and adds: "but when I submit a new car or a new truck, I have tears in the eyes...". "Even if it did confuse more as to debut the"Paris Air Show (le Bourget Salon) with the "Paris Motor Show (auto show), he signed over by drawing a small airplane and it rolls over - full of bad taste - in Toyota Lexus, in the narrow Detroit world, Alan Mulally remains an outsider.

And this is probably what saved Ford, this injection of blood nine in an industry on anemia. It was in 2006. Today, no one thinks to blamed its origins. He was celebrated as a star last week on the occasion of the Detroit Auto show. It must be said that he arrived before the announcement of an increase of 33 of its US sales in December and, above all, the return of Ford to the profits in the third quarter of 2009. The first profit since 2005 North America and first since 1995 market share gain!

When William Clay Ford, the great-grandson of Henry and the Chairman of the group, came to pick him up in 2006, he does him nothing hid. The company had become bureaucratic, hostile to the ideas and new men. The roadmap set to the new boss by the former will be to break down the "silos" that trap each region, South America, Europe, Asia in the defence of its own interests.

The challenge for Mulally was cultural, but it was also financial. Four months after his arrival, he closed the 2006 fiscal year by 12 billion dollars of losses. Hence the decision, incongruous at the time, mortgaging all assets of the business, buildings, machinery, patents, and even its logo, to lift markets in November 2006, more than $ 23 billion. It is this oxygen in cash which allowed Ford to do without the help of the State in 2009 and to avoid the infamous filing of balance that would haunt long nights of General Motors.

To understand the business, the new boss is going to tour across the enterprise, bringing together employees by groups of 25, speaking little, listening to many, completing five binders of notes. His diagnosis met with that of his employer, Bill Ford. The company is totally transparency and communication. It must refocus and restore its unity. Then he has implemented his plan. And he personally summarized it in a small plastic card that it has distributed to all employees. His formula: "one ford", a team, a plan, a goal. "I would like to be one that will be remembered as the man who has refocused on Ford Ford," he assured.

It will therefore typically address the three dimensions of the problem: cost, culture, and the product. On the expenditure side bleeding will be severe, with the deletion of a job in two on American soil, the closure of many factories and modernization of others to make them more flexible. This was added the sale of foreign subsidiaries of luxury: Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and, more recently, Volvo. To break the baronies, it establishes a weekly meeting. It meets every Tuesday at 8 a.m., on the floor in his Office, four major patterns of profit center (America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, credit) and representatives of twelve functional units, such as research, finance, production, human resources, etc. BlackBerry and whisper conversations are prohibited. Each has its operations with a color code, green if everything works as planned, yellow or red if it is not the case. Everyone must be aware of what others are doing. "Communicate, communicate, communicate", Sonny's boss.

On the product front, refocusing and transparency are also rule. His big idea is to build a marketable car in the world, as is done with a plane. An old idea. Ford or GM themselves are often broken teeth on American specificity from the rest of the world. But times have changed and Japanese manufacturers have converted many Americans to small cars efficient and aggressive, to the European. In 2004, the small and medium-sized cars accounted for only 14 of the U.S. market. In 2009, this proportion was 20. And the increase in oil prices should accentuate the phenomenon. His great idea will be transfused European successes in this field on national soil. Small Fiesta and the next Ford Focus are the first guinea pigs to experiment with this strategy. The idea is to develop each time a global platform with the maximum of common components, leaving the markets to adapt the rest to local constraints. Thus, the Focus should by 2013 comprise 80 of common components and be produced from a single platform to decline all versions (two and four doors, all-terrain, MPV, business...). In total, the firm wants to spend 27 platforms in 2007 to 16 in 2012.

As its name indicates, the Focus will be the symbol of the Ford focus. One hundred years after, the firm returned and with the obsession of its origins. October 1, 1908, Henry Ford, who was struggling to impose its concept of popular car out the Ford T. A revolutionary vehicle with its steering wheel on the left, under hood, its 4-cylinder monobloc engine, and, above all, little expensive to purchase and maintenance: 825 dollars in 1908, and half as much in 1914. A single model, a massive advertising, success is considerable. As early as 1913, the great inventor introduced the production chain to further reduce costs. In 1918, Ford T represents half of a US market which already exceeds the million vehicles. And, to be sure to find buyers, and especially for retaining employees, Henry Ford double the salary of its workers as early as 1914, triggering the fury of its competitors.

But any medal has its setbacks. Considered the inventor of the modern industry (Fordism), Henry Ford is a walking paradox. Social but hesitant step to just trade unionists, pacifist but anti-Semitic and admired Hitler, this contractor off standard is capable of great pragmatism and high rigidity. By the mid-1920s, the Ford Model T, which offered no option, that you could buy any color as long as it is black (hue which dries more quickly), is overcome by the competitors. GM starts to segment its offer with multiple brands to track the sophistication of the application. The obstinacy of the son of Henry will require him to admit that times had changed. In the meantime, the firm was overcome by its competitor of Detroit.

The Focus will be the new Ford T, a huge success which encloses the business in the Golden prison of success Alan Mulally in is not yet. But the risks remain the same. In 2010 and 2011, the U.S. should start, when the European will stagnate. Then, American, Japanese, Korean and European competitors will be cut to pieces the bold strategy of driver Mulally, who will be in the less successful to awaken the most famous icon of the American industrial history.