DURING the recent Auto Expo 2012, which was held at the Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, India, this writer was given the rare privilege of speaking with high-level executives of the Ford Motor Co.

The personalities were no less than Ford CEO Alan Mulally and chief designer J. Mays, who flew to India for the global preview of the Ford EcoSport.

Although the banter was light and free-flowing, the seriousness of their message was clear:  Ford is focusing on being Ford.

It will be recalled that several years ago, Ford announced that it was resetting its direction in terms of how it was going to conduct its business. The program designed to achieve that was called “One Ford.”

The overhaul was initiated when Alan Mulally took his place as CEO of the company in September of 2006 after a highly successful stint as president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

At Ford, Mulally virtually created a new culture for the organization under the corporate mantras “One Team. One Plan. One Goal.”

He set about getting everyone to work together as a team, making sure that everyone knew where the company was going and how it was going to get there.

Almost immediately upon assuming office, he implemented changes in Ford’s model mix based on what the customers really wanted and accelerating the development of products in the pipeline.  He also reduced costs by limiting production to a few core platforms which used common parts and systems. This required streamlining the company’s purchasing strategy as well as distributing and strengthening its supply base globally.

“The biggest challenge for Ford is focusing on the customers and focusing on One Ford—Laser Focus,” Mulally emphatically stated.

“Making and selling cars and airplanes aren’t that much different,” Mulally stated. “The only dissimilarity is that cars have 10,000 parts while a Boeing 777, for instance, has four million.”

“Universally across the world, car owners and airline passengers want the same things—best fuel economy, best quality, best safety, best comfort, and best value for money.  Thus, we no longer make different vehicles for different parts of the world,” he shared.

J. Mays, Ford’s chief designer, explained that, “The traditional Ford was a mess.  The company had one car each for the Asia Pacific region, Europe, North and South America.  Now our people do just one car for the global market.”

Nodding in agreement, Mulally continued, “We move pretty decisively at Ford when it comes to the One Ford plan. Today, customers know what Ford is about and what it stands for—brand clarity.  In the past, we had Volvo, Aston Martin, Jaguar, etc.  Today, we have One Ford. That’s why I shocked the corporate world not too long ago when I said Ford was merging, that is, Ford was merging with Ford.”

The soundness of “One Ford” was probably best exemplified last year when Japan’s Fukushima disaster and the massive flooding in Thailand crippled several carmakers whose manufacturing and supply networks were practically severed.

Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president for Asia Pacific and Africa, pointed out, “Having global platforms helps prepare for disruptions in parts supply—multiple supply locations is our strategy.”

Mulally added, “It was an example of why diversity is important and why you have to be able to move parts and equipment across the world. You have to ‘scramble’ or react quickly and the company must work together and decisively.”

Mulally foresees that in the next 10 years, the world is coming together.

“The trend will lead to B- and C-size cars.  Therefore, we will have open platforms—85 percent on five platforms. We will have different packages with different price points so that people can get the vehicles that they never thought they could get,” he said.

As a parting shot, the ever-smiling Ford CEO said, “We always look back to the tagline that Henry Ford wrote himself, which was: ‘Open the highways to all mankind.’  Today, we are accelerating Henry’s vision.  Focus on Ford and Focus in best in class.  Truly, One Ford rocks!”