Ford's Linda Miller: Achieving Quality Through Teamwork.

When confronted with an unfamiliar problem, some managers are unwilling to admit they may be lost. While many are prone to amble around until they pass a sign that will lead to a solution, Linda Miller, director of Ford's worldwide casting operations, has never been above asking "the locals" for the best route to a successful operation.

"In a production environment where most of my peers thought they had to know everything and choose a direction, I asked people what I didn't know, and by utilizing their minds, I got better results," Miller said. "At Ford, results count for a lot."

The strategy paid off, as she became the first female plant manager (Dearborn Engine) at the automotive giant, clearing the road for others that followed. Today she's known not only for her Career accomplishments, but also for being a leader who has been able to accomplish so much in a primarily male-dominated field.

Starting Up

There was no "pivotal moment" when Miller, 50, decided that she wanted a career in manufacturing--she fell into the role and realized that she had made a fitting choice.

Growing up in a small Midwestern town, she originally pursued a college-level teaching career, lured by the challenge of mathematics. "I enjoyed mathematics because it was like solving a puzzle-problems and understanding the intricacies of working them through," she said. "If I had been in a different part of the country, I might have gone into electrical engineering, but growing up in Missouri, I didn't see women in engineering. Counselors didn't even really bring it up as a choice."

Miller spent a year teaching as part of a fellowship for her master's degree, and it was at that point that she realized she had taken a wrong turn. "Once I saw how much time most mathematics professors spent on research rather than on teaching, I knew it wasn't for me," she said. "I met someone from Ford who offered me a job, and it was something totally different, so I figured, 'Why not?'"

Accelerating Within Ford

Miller joined Ford as a warranty analyst. As part of her training, she was sent to an engine plant to observe the production process. She then realized that manufacturing held the same challenges as mathematics but with the added benefit of interaction with a team.

She spent several months at Dearborn Engine working as a production supervisor. "In those days, things were different in that the role of a supervisor was to push production, and if that meant sometimes you pushed engines through the line that were not customer-ready, you just did it. They could be finished after the fact, but at least you had made the numbers. We employed a large group of inspectors who caught defects--so you had two groups constantly in conflict."

In the late '70s, Ford started to turn the corner by integrating responsibility for quality with responsibility for production. As Ford started its Q-1 program with the familiar "Quality is Job One" mantra, Miller started to see dramatic changes on the plant floor.

Along with this shift came changes in the way employees interacted on the production floor. "In the early years, a supervisor's role was to tell hourly workers what to do, and an hourly workers' job was to do it," Miller said. Today, "The Ford production System" means involving all people on the manufacturing floor for total process improvement. This is a philosophy Miller always has believed in, even when it wasn't a popular management ideal. "I ran the floor like we run it today, asking people on the floor how to do things, and, because I involved the workforce, we had good results. With 1000 hourly workers and 50 salaried workers, you have 1050 great minds, not just 50."

The Manufacturing Fast Track

Today, Miller balances her time between 11 operations worldwide, and her management style, which she describes as one of focused problem-solving, allows her to attack production issues by relying heavily on each plant's management team and making sure processes are standardized across operations.

Even though she gives managers room to run their respective operations, she spends time helping with issues, ensuring the "right" processes are in place. "Where performance isn't what it needs to be from a quality and cost perspective, I help drive change," Miller said. "For example, at one of Ford's gray iron plants, we had implemented a great deal of change and preventive maintenance systems deteriorated. We weren't getting enough parts to our customer, and costs were high because productivity was low. I approached the problem similar to all problems: with an emphasis on understanding if there were people in place with the skill to remedy the situation. That plant now is in a much more stable state because the management team has reinstituted the basics and engaged the hourly worklforce in understanding and addressing the productivity issues."

Steering to Casting Success

Because Miller has held a variety of positions at Ford, from product planning and quality to purchasing to manufacturing, and has worked in a number of different Ford plants, she has a clear view of how castings fit into the automotive firm's overall plan.

"For many years, we didn't approach manufacturing from a best business practices perspective," Miller said. "I came in here to turn it into a more healthy business, not an asset-intense business. Aluminum is a way to gain leverage with an area where we are quite strong."

Ford's two aluminum plants in Canada are being consolidated into Mexico-based Nemak, a joint venture with Alfa. This is being accomplished so that Ford will have a larger share of the division, and this move portends Ford's view of aluminum as a large part of its future in the engine business.

Windsor and Essex Aluminum plants, where Ford casts both aluminum engine blocks and heads, are reasonably competitive plants, yet, by merging these foundries with Nemak foundries, Ford feels it is expanding its competitiveness, Miller said. "Once the plants are a part of this joint venture, we expect to improve our competitiveness so that the two plants will be able to expand and sell components to other automotive companies."

As Ford steers toward using more aluminum and magnesium parts, its casting operations will inevitably move away from gray iron, Miller said. "When you look out into the future, you won't see much gray iron used in our engines at all. You may see some crankshafts still cast in gray iron rather than forged steel because it's less costly. Large, heavy-duty cylinder blocks may continue to be produced in gray iron, but the industry trend is toward aluminum for both blocks and heads." (See Ford Unveils Cleveland Aluminum Casting Plant, p. 29.)

In addition, magnesium is gaining prominence in automotive applications such as seat backs, transmission cases and rocker covers. "Magnesium is application-specific, and it's use really depends on whether or not the weight savings is worth the additional cost," Miller said. "Looking at a lot of components, it has become a cost vs. weight discussion." Ford is banking on more magnesium parts, as it has purchased a magnesium mine to supplement its growing needs.

Road Signs of the Times

The "downside" of casting from a business perspective, according to Miller, is that it is asset-intensive. "It doesn't matter if it's Ford or any other foundry, you have to ensure you get the most out of those assets as you can, as far as throughput and reduced scrap, because you have to drive elements of your cost out."

Perceptions of the industry also can be a stumbling block to foundry growth. Miller said that engineers can be put off by people talking about casting as an art. "That has the connotation that it's something you can't control," she said. "Casting is not an art, it's a science. If you understand how heat treatment affects mechanical properties, how changes to metallurgy impact machinability and how other factors influence porosity, you can break out of the pack. Combined with statistical data (as opposed to trial and error), quality control and preventive maintenance, engineers can see casting as a predictable process."

Miller stressed that end-users are looking for more suppliers who are able to offer complete value-added capabilities. "We're looking for more and more suppliers to do up-front engineering. If we specify characteristics we want such as mechanical properties and structural rigidity, we want suppliers that are able to then specify the best metallurgy and treatment processes to provide the mechanical properties at lowest cost."

In addition, the driver for casting process innovation will be achieving more exact net shape. "The casting process must become more and more precise, and there is a lot of competition," Miller said. "Right now, casting is clearly the best method of producing engine components, such as blocks and heads, and many transmission components are cast. I don't see a significant trend away from casting, but there are a lot of people working on processes that get near net shape and the resulting cost advantage."

Miller said that the smaller packages and complex shapes required by today's automakers are forcing foundries to meet Six Sigma requirements and maintain tight statistical process controls. At Cleveland Casting, Ford's newest aluminum foundry patterned after Windsor Aluminum, Miller said that the firm is has maintained precise control of key characteristics such as bore stagger on the 4.6L iron block so that the customer scrap rate for all issues is less than 0.5%.

Fueling Young Minds

While Ford will continue to convert from gray iron to aluminum or magnesium to gain weight savings, the firm is focusing on refinement of processes rather than expanding its casting business. Miller said that it makes more sense for the firm to drive costs out by improving asset utilization and productivity. "We can handle a significant increase in volume by improving productivity," she said. "You hear Ford talking a lot about reducing its asset intensity, but it is really return on assets that we are interested in. Therefore, if we--Casting Operations--want to continue to be in business, we have to significantly improve our asset utilization. That is why I sepnd a good deal of time encouraging young minds in the direction of our metalcasting operations."

Miller, the keynote speaker at last year's FEF College Industry Conference, stressed that involving young engineers and metallurgists in the task of refining processes will lead to quicker advancements. "We need bright, young minds to bring a different perspective to us," she said. "The growth in aluminum casting over the next 5-7 years will be phenomenal, and we're just scratching the surface of what we don't know. We need creative people, particularly in modeling and metallurgy. As we continue to develop more and more aluminum engines, we can't afford to be in the find-and-fix mode. We must focus instead on preventing them from happening. Advances in modeling, fueled by the best people coming from our universities will be the way we finally truly turn this so called 'black art' into a science."

Linda M. Miller

Manufacturing Director, Ford Casting and Forging Operations

Education/Degree: BS in mathematics, Northeast Missouri State Univ.; M.A. in mathematics, Univ. of Kansas; M.B.A., Univ. of Detroit-Mercy.

Immediate Family: Husband, Tim Duperron

Company Information

Founded: 1903.

Metals Cast: Cray iron and aluminum.

North American Foundries: Cleveland Casting and Cleveland Aluminum Casting, Brook Park, Ohio; Windsor Aluminum, Windsor Casting and Essex Aluminum, Ontario, Canada.

Mold Capabilities: Automatic green sand and nobake.

Core Capabilities: Coldbox and hotbox.

Markets: Automotive and light truck.

1999 Shipments: Aluminum: 131 million lb; iron: 460,000 tons (North America).

Employees: 364,550 total, including 9000 in Casting and Forging Operations.