Book highlights include Ford's narrow escape from bankruptcy

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Book highlights include Ford's narrow escape from bankruptcy
Leadership gave reins to outsider to save industry icon

By Jaclyn Trop The Detroit News

Ford Motor Co. skirted closer to bankruptcy than the public realized, Detroit News automotive reporter Bryce G. Hoffman says in a book to be released this month.

Cost-cutting measures at the Dearborn automaker included requiring executive approval to buy a box of paper clips. Plants went unwatered and windows unwashed in a further cost-cutting bid.

With Ford Motor Co.'s cooperation, "American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company" tells the behind-the-scenes account of the automaker's turnaround.

Highlights include:

The board's pressure on Bill Ford Jr. to step aside as CEO in 2006

One director told Hoffman that Ford was reluctant to make decisions and didn't fully participate in meetings.

"He is not giving it the 24/7 effort that he promised us," the director is quoted in the book. "He's not involved in the operational and product meetings. And he's been unable to resolve the internal conflicts. You have to have the CEO calling the shots. Bill isn't."

Ford agreed that he needed help running the company and poached Alan Mulally from his post as CEO at Boeing Co.

The push by some board members to sell the company or file for bankruptcy

The situation became so dire that the board of directors pushed Bill Ford to explore mergers with other automakers and consider selling portions of the company to the private equity firms beginning to show interest.

The Ford family considered taking the company private again, but the only financially viable option was for Bill Ford to hire new blood for the chief executive office.

Ford's secret negotiations with the UAW to produce game-changing contracts in 2007 and 2009

Mulally soon turned a sharp eye to Ford's operations and expenses, leading secret meetings with UAW then-President Ron Gettelfinger to secure contracts that would help Ford stay in business.

Fearing media attention, Ford executives and UAW officials gathered in a nondescript office building behind the Detroit Lions' practice facility in Allen Park, entering through an unlocked side door.

Mulally agreed to keep production of the Ford Focus at the Wayne Stamping and Assembly Plant if Gettelfinger conceded other points as part of the 2007 labor contract, a move that helped Ford avoid the fates of its domestic competitors.

The automaker's slide toward bankruptcy, just months away from running out of cash at the end of 2008

During the third quarter, Ford was losing more than $83 million a day. The company needed to cut costs and boost sales or go broke within months.

"'American Icon' does a good job of portraying the Ford transformation," said Ford spokeswoman Karen Hampton.

"We are proud of what the Ford team has accomplished, and we are even more focused on continuing to make progress in the future," Hampton said in an emailed statement.

"As with any retelling of history, memories and accuracy differ from person to person — and this account is no different," Hampton wrote. "We will let the book speak for itself — while we remain focused on creating the next chapter in Ford's history."

I think I might order a copy......