Ford executives said the company has hired 350 experienced engineers — some former employees and others from suppliers — after artificial intelligence and automated systems failed to deliver the desired level of quality.
Ford executives said the company has hired 350 experienced engineers — some former employees and others from suppliers — after artificial intelligence and automated systems failed to deliver the desired level of quality.
According to the company’s COO Kumar Galhotra, Ford “has increasingly relied on automated quality control systems,” but the results have been disappointing. So the company “brought back the technicians,” who now “find weaknesses before the part even hits the factory assembly line,” writes TechCrunch.
Charles Poon, Ford's vice president of automotive engineering, added: "We mistakenly believed that simply implementing AI and uploading our design requirements would be enough to create a high-quality product."
But that doesn't mean Ford is abandoning its AI plans entirely. Instead, the company is bringing back employees—called "graybeard" engineers—to train junior staff and reprogram the AI tools.
The decision to rehire proved to be a wise one. Ford CEO Jim Farley said it resulted in reduced warranty and recall costs, “which literally created a financial tailwind for Ford of hundreds of millions of dollars in cost optimization.” The automaker also ranked first among major brands in J.D. Power’s initial quality survey.
