“In his 1971 book Wheels, Arthur Hailey claims that cars that were primarily assembled on a Monday or Friday would suffer from quality problems due to worker performance/absenteeism issues associated with those days”[1]. By that reasoning, one would want a Tuesday or a Wednesday made vehicle. Studies have shown those to be the most productive days of the work week.
The good news is that, after it was scheduled to be built in the week of November 15th, 2021, my Bronco has been finally built. And, it was build on a Wednesday! Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t built on Wednesday, November 17th. It seems as though the factory was running a week late. My Bronco was instead built on Wednesday, November 24th, 2021.
The thing is that this is the one Wednesday of the year that’s worse for productivity than any Friday. It was the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving break. Anyone who’s ever had job in an industry other than retail knows that absolutely nothing gets done on that day.
There is, however, good news! Mr. Hailey’s book was a bunch of fictional bullshit. So was the auto factory-centered movie GungHo, which was a great comedy but otherwise totally absurd. While some old tales may have some merit, modern manufacturing and QA/QC standards have pretty much negated any from issues associated with worker performance or absenteeism.
But manufacturing issues still occur. But rather than being workmanship issues, they are mostly part or design issues. For instance, a non-compliant batch of parts could have been installed on some vehicles. These could be bolts, adhesives, sensors, anything, really. Most other issues are design issues. This is where the correct parts were installed but the parts themselves were poorly designed. Or perhaps the installation procedure was wrong, a torque spec, for instance.
That said, quality issues can still occur on any product. There are cases of a Wrangler shipped with two different colored fenders. The new Bronco isn’t completely off the hook either. Earlier this year a Bronco was shipped with mismatched seats.
Fun fact:
On May 1, 1926, Ford Motor Company becomes one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week for workers in its automotive factories. The policy would be extended to Ford’s office workers the following August.
History.com
My Bronco is scheduled to arrive at my dealership in the second week of December. I am confident that despite its production date, everything will be absolutely fine. That said, I’ll triple check everything before taking delivery like I would have on any car purchase. I can’t wait to get it.
[1]Link
