Anthony Hudson at Ford
Anthony’s placement at Ford’s assembly plant, Melbourne, proved to be a very useful extension of a co-op year. Anthony had arranged for himself a year’s work experience at the plant and through taking on different roles had learnt a lot about the processes involved including managing a shop floor work force. He heard about PEPS and thought it would be a great way to put some more depth into his learning by completing a project on some aspect of the company’s operations.
“Working here has been great, and I wanted to continue that, and also continue to do my uni courses.” Anthony said. “The guys have been great here, and I have learnt such a lot.”
His project was based on the improvement of the quality control system in the Body Build section of the plant by counting defects and cars ‘First Time Through’ FFT.
This project was set against the launch phase of the new Falcon. It is usual for manufacturers to find that the launch of a new model to coincides with an increase of warranty claims, and Ford were keen to launch the 2008 Ford Falcon with the highest standard of quality.
First Time Through (FTT) is a measure of quality in manufacturing. It measures how many units pass an area without being diverted. Increased numbers of FTT leads to higher quality and reduced costs.