Originator: Stephen I. Dains/sdains
Page 4
Date Issued: 2-16-04
guidebookcommon spring 2004.doc
DateRevised: 5/6/2004
schedulea visit at amutually convenient time. For the visit tobe scheduled, there
must beassurance that vehicleswithFord chassiswill beavailable to review. Vehicle
reviews of all basic types andmodels of Fordbased vehicles offeredby your
company areessential. Inaddition, evaluatorswill need to visit all manufacturing
facilities related to your company's vehiclebuildoperations.
5.
TheFTQPAssessment Teamusing this guidebook and theEngineeringAssessment
Form, printedat theback of the industry unique sectionof this book, conducts anon-
site visit.
How theAssessmentWorks
:
TheFTQPassessment visit provides theopportunity for theAssessment Team toobserve the
builder's processes, quality, andmanufacturing controls. A typical on-siteassessmentmay take
oneor twobusiness days andwill contain the following sequencedelements:
•
An initial officemeeting togather general informationabout the company. Personnel
representing theEngineering,Manufacturing, Quality, andSales are typically asked to
participateor beavailable toanswer questions.
•
A reviewof the completemanufacturingprocess, from the receipt of the incomplete chassis
through the completed vehicle final inspection, including inspections of representative
vehicles built onFord chassis. Other productsmay alsobe included in the review.
•
A vehicle test drivemay alsobe conductedat the team's discretion.
•
TheFordassessment teamwill break after the tour to complete thedraft engineering
assessment.
•
Fordandbuilder personnel will reconvene todiscuss theassessment. Seniormanagement
is expected toattend the closingmeeting.
•
Apreliminary assessment report is reviewedwith thebuilder. A formal report is issuedonce
the team returns to thehomeoffice.
NOTE: Circumstancemay call formodificationof theaboveprocess. (e.g. theassessment report
reviewmay bedone viaphone, e-mail, etc, as appropriate). Ford reserves the right tomake such
changeswithout prior notice.
ApproachTo ImprovingQuality
:
Meeting theMinimumRequirements as detailed in this
GuideBook
is aprerequisite to full
participation in thisFordTruckQualityProgram. However, satisfying theseMinimum
Requirements alonewill not guarantee compliant and/or quality products. Ford further
encourages all builders towork towardmeetingall Other Criteriadiscussed throughout these
Guidelines.
Those companies constantly striving toobtain thehighest levels of quality and customer
satisfactionwill find that they aremeeting theseCriteriaand thiswill assist them inbecoming
participants of theFordTruckQualityProgram.
FTQPReport
:
TheFTQPAssessment Report will summarize your company's overall assessment inaddition to
detailedevaluation comments noted throughout the visit. This overall assessment statuswill fall
intooneof three categories:
FM, F
ully
M
eets program requirements
; P, P
ending completionof
programdocumentation; and
NQ
,
N
ot
Q
ualified. For builders to receiveFullyMeets (
FM)
status,
theymust havemet all of theminimum requirements of theFTQPandachievedaminimumof 85
percent of the total potential rating scoreon the rating form.
Builderswho receiveP status havemet the sameprogram requirements as notedabove,
however programparticipation is pending. Thiswouldbe the casewhenanew company has
met thebasic requirements aboveand iswaitinguntil final documentation is completed to support
theprogram requirements for insurance coverageandexecutionof theShip-ThruorQVM
(QualifiedVehicleModifier) Agreement.
Thosebuilderswitha rating scorebelow85percent or whohavenotmet all theminimum
requirements as noted in theassessment report, will receiveNQ.
Anybuilder receivinga "NQ"
will not be reevaluated for aminimumof sixmonths. At theassessment team'sdiscretion,
verificationof correctionof deficienciesmaybeacceptedprior to thesixmonthminimum.
