Speaker for Tuesday 21st January 2014 - Mr. Ian Marr
24/01/14 16:37
Photo: Vice President Gordon Ward greets Ian Marr, with club member Eric Fulton (L)
Talk by Mr Ian Marr on 'My life in Fords'
Club Vice President Gordon Ward welcomed club members to the meeting and gave the apologies from Graham Kane, our President who was waiting for a delayed visit from the 'mobile medic' who was treating him. Gordon then introduced our speaker for the morning Mr. Ian Marr, who gave a very detailed account of his time in the motor industry (which he called 'My life in Fords') with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation and a lifetime of engineering and management experience.
Ian began by setting the scene at Fords, and outlined the extremely complex structure of the company as a worldwide enterprise. Then Ian narrowed down the diagrams to a product level, within which 'Manufacturing' is only one aspect of that structure diagram. Ian told us that he had spent virtually all of his 40 plus working years at Fords within that manufacturing fraction of the overall company structure, and most of those years in the 'Power Train' sub section (that's gearboxes, axles - when cars had axles, that is - engines, drive shafts etc.).
Ian joined Fords as an apprentice in 1966 (at the Essex factory in Dagenham - just around the time of the big industrial action protests over sex discrimination in the factory - see the 2010 film "Made in Dagenham"). By 1970 he transferred to the Truck manufacturing division, which had four centres, one being in Holland. This led Ian to the beginnings of a career involving a great deal of travelling.
During the next 30 or more years Ian travelled the world at Fords request, but there wasn't time for sightseeing, it was the world of airports, factories, offices and hotel rooms, the glamour that it sounds like.
The talk and Ian's presentation took us through the milestones of his long service at Fords. These included:-
1976 - being seconded to the team launching the new 'Fiesta' model
1978 - transfer to the 'Power Train' operations
1980 - moved to 'sort out' the engine cleaning machinery section
1985 - transferred for more problem solving, this time with the AGVs (Auto Guided Vehicles) used to move components within factories
1991 - in charge of pipe-work, machine equipment and so on within the Mechanical Services division
1999 - was in Ford Rudge (USA) at time of big explosion (due to cuts in safety budgets!)
2001 to 2007 - given the 'Safety Leadership' role for the Power Train section
Throughout his talk Ian gave a good sprinkling of anecdotes and interesting facts related to the positions he found himself in.
This detailed and interesting talk was followed by a short Question and Answer (due to constraints of time). Among the topics raised were: 'who designs the robotic machine tools' - combination of Ford technical and separate machine manufacturers. 'British car manufacturing declined and more overseas companies came into UK' - poor management and poor build quality to blame. Ford took over Jaguar / Land Rover and improved reliability, but sold at recession time, Tata of India got a better product without having the development costs.
A vote of thanks was proposed by Eric Fulton, who highlighted the excellent detail and clear explanation of such a complex subject. Eric said that he had always been fascinated with cars, but had no idea how complicated the process of making them was. Ian's talk had clearly demonstrated this fact so well. This was passed on by the Vice President. The members showed their appreciation.
Talk by Mr Ian Marr on 'My life in Fords'
Club Vice President Gordon Ward welcomed club members to the meeting and gave the apologies from Graham Kane, our President who was waiting for a delayed visit from the 'mobile medic' who was treating him. Gordon then introduced our speaker for the morning Mr. Ian Marr, who gave a very detailed account of his time in the motor industry (which he called 'My life in Fords') with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation and a lifetime of engineering and management experience.
Ian began by setting the scene at Fords, and outlined the extremely complex structure of the company as a worldwide enterprise. Then Ian narrowed down the diagrams to a product level, within which 'Manufacturing' is only one aspect of that structure diagram. Ian told us that he had spent virtually all of his 40 plus working years at Fords within that manufacturing fraction of the overall company structure, and most of those years in the 'Power Train' sub section (that's gearboxes, axles - when cars had axles, that is - engines, drive shafts etc.).
Ian joined Fords as an apprentice in 1966 (at the Essex factory in Dagenham - just around the time of the big industrial action protests over sex discrimination in the factory - see the 2010 film "Made in Dagenham"). By 1970 he transferred to the Truck manufacturing division, which had four centres, one being in Holland. This led Ian to the beginnings of a career involving a great deal of travelling.
During the next 30 or more years Ian travelled the world at Fords request, but there wasn't time for sightseeing, it was the world of airports, factories, offices and hotel rooms, the glamour that it sounds like.
The talk and Ian's presentation took us through the milestones of his long service at Fords. These included:-
1976 - being seconded to the team launching the new 'Fiesta' model
1978 - transfer to the 'Power Train' operations
1980 - moved to 'sort out' the engine cleaning machinery section
1985 - transferred for more problem solving, this time with the AGVs (Auto Guided Vehicles) used to move components within factories
1991 - in charge of pipe-work, machine equipment and so on within the Mechanical Services division
1999 - was in Ford Rudge (USA) at time of big explosion (due to cuts in safety budgets!)
2001 to 2007 - given the 'Safety Leadership' role for the Power Train section
Throughout his talk Ian gave a good sprinkling of anecdotes and interesting facts related to the positions he found himself in.
This detailed and interesting talk was followed by a short Question and Answer (due to constraints of time). Among the topics raised were: 'who designs the robotic machine tools' - combination of Ford technical and separate machine manufacturers. 'British car manufacturing declined and more overseas companies came into UK' - poor management and poor build quality to blame. Ford took over Jaguar / Land Rover and improved reliability, but sold at recession time, Tata of India got a better product without having the development costs.
A vote of thanks was proposed by Eric Fulton, who highlighted the excellent detail and clear explanation of such a complex subject. Eric said that he had always been fascinated with cars, but had no idea how complicated the process of making them was. Ian's talk had clearly demonstrated this fact so well. This was passed on by the Vice President. The members showed their appreciation.
(Secretary, Mike Turner)
Members wishing to find out even more about the worldwide company that is 'Ford' could check these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ford_Motor_Company
http://www.ford.co.uk/experience-ford/Heritage
http://www.gofurther.com/#en-GB
Members interested in life at Fords UK in the 1970s, may well like to lookout for (film rentals) the film 'Made in Dagenham'
