Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

And then you bring that back through that — complexity back through the supply chain, and you talked about the number of changeovers that our suppliers have to make to produce the complexity that we have and the time that, that adds to production and the time that it adds the cost and the issues that it drives through. So those are just some of the tip of the iceberg or the things we’re going after. And then if you go back and you look at it, as I said in my remarks, just you look at the math and you look at our cost of goods sold relative to our revenue and then compare that to traditional OEMs, let alone the new OEMs, and you see the size of the prize that we’re going after. And what’s changed, Adam, I think the answer is, is we just have to show you guys.

I mean that’s where we’re at. We have to deliver it. But as Jim said, as we’re taking this lean approach and getting into it, there’s a very systematic way we’re going at it now, and we are very focused. And we know that this is the number one thing that needs to get fixed in the first part of our transformation.

Jim Farley: And Adam, I’d just like to add as the CEO, there’s a lot of choices, they’re all very consequential when it comes to the approach to do this. The most important thing for me is sustainable. When you look at Ford, we have cut in the past and it grows back or we have cut everywhere and not really focused on the industrial system. So for me, the approach that we’re taking that’s very different and very difficult is that it has to be daily work, gaps to competition, countermeasures, action plans for those countermeasures, constant evaluation of the effectiveness of those countermeasures, celebration of those KPIs and our status and daily management. It has to be a more fundamental approach than holding our breath or dealing with the output like people and getting into the real industrial systems efficiency. And that is a cultural change as a leader. It’s a behavioral change. It is not just a program.

Operator: Our next question comes from John Murphy from Bank of America. Please go ahead.

John Murphy: Just kind of wanted to follow up sort of on a similar vein, short term and long term. Just for short term, when we think about the ’23 outlook and you look at the $1 billion for decline in Ford Credit and take that as a reasonably given number, something in that direction and then $2 billion of lower past service pension income. That’s a $3.4 billion headwind. But sort of at the midpoint of the range, you’re talking about EBIT being roughly flat. So that sort of indicates a very significant $3 billion plus improvement in the core business, which is a lot to kind of believe when you’re looking at sort of the headwinds and the issues that you just faced. I’m just curious if you can comment on that, maybe kind of walk us to how we get comfortable like we’ll see a $3 billion plus improvement in the core business this year?

I mean — and how do you get these supply chain issues fixed when some of that are a bit outside of your control and what we hear from suppliers is volatility and schedules and it’s not just specific to Ford, still pretty volatile?