Ford Motor Company made a big decision recently. The carmaker brought back more than 300 experienced engineers after its artificial intelligence systems did not deliver the expected results in quality control. The company found that AI-powered inspection tools could not match the skills and knowledge of veteran technicians who had worked on vehicle development for decades.
The automaker had expanded its use of artificial intelligence across manufacturing operations. This included deploying 900 AI-powered cameras in its plants to detect quality issues early. But the automated systems fell short. They could not identify complex manufacturing problems the way experienced human engineers could.
AI Fails to Replace Decades of Engineering Experience
Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, admitted the company made a mistake. He said they thought introducing AI and feeding it design requirements would produce high-quality products automatically.
“Artificial intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it’s only as good as the information you use to train it,” Poon told reporters.
“Mistakenly, we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and ingesting the design requirements that we had, that would produce a high-quality product,” Poon said.
The company realized they had not paid enough attention to the knowledge of their most experienced engineers who had been through many product cycles. Some of these veteran workers left the company before their expertise could be fully transferred to automated systems.
Experienced Engineers Return to Fix Quality Problems
Ford hired, promoted, or brought back approximately 350 veteran quality inspectors over the past three years. The company calls them “gray beard” engineers because of their long experience in automotive manufacturing.
These experienced engineers now train AI systems and mentor younger employees. They also run mandatory meetings to troubleshoot quality problems and have reprogrammed AI tools to catch issues before they happen.
Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra explained the shift in approach. The company had relied too much on automated quality systems and was not getting the results they wanted.
“We brought back technical specialists – they hunt for failure points before a part ever reaches the plant floor,” Galhotra said.
Quality Improvements Lead to Top Industry Ranking
The return of experienced engineers helped Ford achieve its best quality ranking in years. The company took the top spot among mainstream automakers in the U.S. J.D. Power Initial Quality Study for the first time since 2010.
Ford said reaching best-in-class quality required a significant talent refresh. This included replacing senior leaders across engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing. The company also brought in veteran engineers who carry decades of design knowledge.
CEO Jim Farley said the improvements have saved the company hundreds of millions of dollars. Warranty costs and recall expenses have decreased significantly.
“These are all contributing to literally hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of a tailwind for Ford on cost,” Farley told Bloomberg TV.
Ford’s Automation Strategy Remains Strong
Ford is not abandoning artificial intelligence. The company continues to integrate AI across its operations. They added more than 100,000 new AI-powered tests designed to find edge cases and stress software systems under various conditions.
The veteran engineers are helping improve AI tools rather than replacing them. Their expertise is used to train automated systems and improve data collection methods.
“We recognised that for us to enhance some of our automation and machine learning and artificial intelligence tools we needed to ensure that they were trained by the most experienced individuals,” Poon said.
Moving from ‘Find and Fix’ to Preventing Problems
Ford changed its entire approach to quality management. The company had been following a “find and fix” philosophy that focused on identifying defects after they appeared. Different departments worked separately, and the system became too fragmented.
“We’re moving from that find-and-fix mentality to preventing issues before they occur,” Galhotra said.
The company now focuses on early indicators and enablers rather than just looking at outputs. Software and digital teams work more closely with vehicle engineering, manufacturing, and supply-chain teams.
Ford also created a dedicated 40-person software quality assurance team. This team’s only job is to prevent problems before they happen.
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Ford’s Quality History and Challenges
Ford has faced serious quality problems in recent years. The company currently leads the industry in the number of vehicle recalls. Quality ratings dropped over the past several years.
The difficulties became worse with problems launching models like the Explorer and Aviator. Supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic also hurt quality.
The NTSB investigated two fatal crashes involving Ford’s BlueCruise hands-free driving system. The board found that driver overreliance on the automated system contributed to both crashes. Three people died in these incidents. The NTSB recommended changes to BlueCruise and stronger federal requirements for such technology.
The board chairwoman, Jennifer Homendy, said manufacturers need to ensure these technologies are designed, monitored, and implemented safely.
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