Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 by Henry Ford and has continuously remained under family ownership since this time. The company developed and implemented assembly line production by the release of the Model T in 1909, and produced planes and vehicles for the Allies in World War II. Ford has operated internationally since 1904, when it opened a branch in Canada to gain access to Commonwealth markets. For the first half of the 21st Century, Ford remained the dominant car manufacturer within the market it had effectively created. In 1956, Toyota exported its first automobile to the United States, and began acquiring market share. In hindsight this was a turning point in the U.S. market, and as the 21st Century drew to a close Ford faced declining market share and had difficulty remaining competitive in the global marketplace.
Operations management is the area concerned with the efficiency and effectiveness of the operation in support and development of the firm's strategic goals. Historically, Ford Motor Company was heavily invested on the quality of its products. Ford Motor Company started the Total Quality Management (TQM) practices in the 1980s when “Quality Is Job1” was their slogan.
At that time that slogan made sense when TQM, a process improvement methodology based on customer satisfaction quality driven process with guidelines set by management was first utilized. Ford Motor Company was focused on producing better quality products, a stable work environment, effective management, and profitability. Quality product that meet customer needs translated into financial success. However, while TQM resulted to almost perfect production lines, they discovered that there was too much waste and lack of quality in many levels. This prompted Ford to pursue different avenues resulting to Six Sigma. According to Ford Chief Engineer Art Hyde, “The design and