Developed a cargo retention solution to resolve an irritating pain point for SUV customers.
- Benchmarked competition to investigate alternatives; none were present.
- Defined scope through customer clinics
- Identified trade-offs and set limits to minimize adverse affects to other important attributes (cargo opening size, ease of loading/unloading, styling, cost, ,
- Created rapid prototypes to evaluate and determine best performance and assess tradeoffs.
- Summarized findings to senior management using decision matrix to clearly lead their decision to implement recommended design.
- First implemented on 2017 Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. The Navigator is the Flagship of the company.
- The integration of the product requires no increased capital cost or piece cost vs. previous trim piece.
- No adverse affect on customers.
- Ford customers have a clear advantage vs. customers of other auto manufacturers