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MANUFACTURING 

T o have a strong business, we need to establish and retain competitiveness in the ways we build our products. For us, that means the ability to assemble exactly the products that our customers want, in the regions where they want them, and at a cost that allows us to compete profitably. In established markets such as Europe, North America and Japan, we are making the technological investment to stay in the forefront of flexible manufacturing. Flexible manufacturing allows us to produce a number of different vehicles in a single location. It enables us to add a vehicle line or change over to a new model by reprogramming, rather than retooling, the vast majority of the machinery involved. In North America, eight of our plants are operating as or on their way to becoming flexible manufacturing facilities. In Europe, our Valencia Assembly Plant in Spain will join our Cologne and Saarlouis locations in Germany as fully flexible facilities. Our Premier Automotive Group is on target to attain 80 percent 

F R O N T 

flexibility by the end of 2010. In addition, Mazda operations are among the most flexible in the world. 

And to maintain a presence and competitive pricing, it is likely that Ford and its suppliers will gradually increase their production in those parts of the world where markets are emerging. 

Doing that while maintaining our economic presence in established markets requires careful, strategic thinking. But we believe it’s both possible and necessary if we are to realize our vision of being the best. 

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