I know back in the "olden days" of car manufacturing it was said not to buy a vehicle made on a Monday (workers are hungover). And not to buy a vehicle made on a Friday ( workers are ready for the weekend and don't care). Any truth to this?
The reason this came to mind was I have read lots of negative posts regarding '03 Expeditions. With the exception of having excessive brake dust on the front wheels, I have not had any of the problems I have read about.
My truck was made on WEDNESDAY, February 12th, 2003
Am I just lucky, or is there truth to the myth?

 

I would hope that the invasion of foreign cars has put everyone in the auto industry on alert. Quality should be job 1. With the sticker prices of todays automobiles, each one should be perfect!!

 

I wonder how much the worker has to do with contruction of the vechile these days. Maybe they just turn the robot on and off.

 

I wouldn't think that was true anymore.

Ken & I went to the expedition/navigator assembly plant in Dearborn in Jan,and there running 24/7.

The line isn't like what it used to be.Having only 52 seconds to assemble their part, they really don't have the time to mess around.

Not like the guys at the end of the line.

 

How does one determin the exact production date on his Ford vehicle?

 

You have to look for coding that establishes the Date, then look it up on a calendar

 

How does one determin the exact production date on his Ford vehicle?

Look at the bottom of the window sticker. There should be a date there. Count back 1.5 days and that should be close. Remember this is when it is finished, that's why you have to count back.
Not all of the autos are built 24/7, some like the focus are only built eighteen hours give or take six depending on machine breakdowns. The inspection processes that are on each and every line pick up a good percentage of problems that could pose re-calls. If you look at all the re-calls the Focus had in the life of it you will find that 99% of them were vendor parts which we don't build but do install. Alot of these items are sealed so we can't inspect them. (We shouldn't have to). If our inspectors had to analize each of these in and out then we would be to blame.

So I would have to say ANY DAY is a good day as long as the built up peices are made with quality and pride.

---You have to look for coding that establishes the Date, then look it up on a calendar
Each part may be built on a different shift or date,(example: doors, hood bodyside,fender,decklid,ect...)
Kevin

 

They assemble 450-550 trucks per 10 hour shift so that is 4.5-5.5 trucks per hour.

I was talking about the assembly date which is coded into the
build papers.

 

Thank you Keporter, mine says 04/03/03 wich makes it Tuesday night or Wednesday morning?

 

As a manager in an assembly plant (Aluminum Windows) I would say you still have to watch for it. We bulild the same products every day and Mondays and Fridays are the worst days for absenteeism. This causes the lines to run lean and since cycle times are still there, employees have to multitask in ordeer to keep the lines moving. This equates to reduced quality and poor fitment if attention is not paid. I would say vehicles are not much different than our windows.

 

I don't know how things are today but, I have a 1985 F-250 that was built on the day before the Christmas holiday began in December 1984. The first 6 months I had it the service manager at the local Ford dealership and I were on first name basis. It spent almost as much time in their garage as mine. The big stuff got ironed out in the first year but ever since then there is a seemingly never ending series of little problems. Actually over the past few years as I have had to go over and replace or repair worn parts it has been less of a problem.
RussA

 

I have a vehicle with a 1985 B700 "Incomplete vehicle" chassis from Ford. It just says 4/85, no exact day. Why aren't these ever labelled on heavier duty vehicles?

 

Our plant uses Temporary/Part-time employees on Mondays and Fridays, to help with the absentees. These people realize that eventually they will be offered full time employment so they definately give it there best. Most of the time they do the same job on these days so they know the job just as good as the full time employee. Most of the time they work a couple weeks prior to a holiday, but Ford makes sure they get layed off prior to getting 90 days in a row in. Most of these people have been temps for 89 days at least five times, only to be layed off that 89th day. Also most have been temps for the last three to four years.
Kevin