INTERVIEW WITH PHIL SPENDER

The silence comes as a surprise, as one steps into the premises of Ford India.

But hey! this is supposed to be a manufacturing unit. So where are the noises associated with a factory?

But then, you have to walk half a kilometre to get to the Press Shop from the corporate office and probably another half to the Body Shop and another half to the Paint Shop and another to the Trim Chassis and Final Line and another to the Finished Car parking yard.

Whew! But then you are talking about 250 acres of land. And an investment of over Rs 1700 crore.

Welcome to the Integrated Manufacturing Facility of Ford India Limited, situated about 45 kms from Chennai, at Maraimalai Nagar.

After a guided plant tour, we hurried back to the corporate office for the interview with the President and Managing Director of Ford India,
Phil Spender. He comes to India after completing his assignment as Plant Manager at Ford Motor Company's Broadmeadows plant in Australia. He has been with Ford for the last 24 years.

Spender and his wife live in Chennai, close to Ford India's corporate office and manufacturing facility. He has two teenage children studying in Australia.

He admits to being a bit shocked at first, by the enormous population in India, the sheer numbers, the busyness and the relative chaos involved. The Spenders however, enjoy living in Chennai. They like the Coffee bars in Chennai. And he enjoys playing golf. His favourite landmark in Chennai is Fort St. George and Marina's promenade.

The interview was scheduled for 3.30 pm.We walked in nervously into Phil Spender's room, but were immediately put at ease by his unassuming and easy-going manner. He insisted on sitting in front of a poster of the latest
'Josh Machine', the Ikon Sxi.

Phil Spender speaks to www.chennaibest.com about the role of Ford in India.

The first reason was because we could find and attract a very good work force here. Tamil Nadu has very talented people. Very capable and enthusiastic. The second reason was the Government encouraging us to come here and working with us to make this project a success. Then we got down to the practical issues of ports, electricity supply, water and other services that we required, to build a business like this.

Well, this is Ford's newest plant in the world. So, in terms of standards that you see, as you have had a tour of the plant, this is world class. The processes we use in the Paint Shop and the facilities are just the same as in any other plant. I guess our processes have more of a manual content at the moment, as we are comparatively a small business. As time goes on and the market grows, we will be able to add more of automation to the plant.

Yes, it has made us think differently. Because, we were learning more about a new market that we previously had no experience of. If you trace our recent history, we learnt the market with the Ford Escort. And we were able to use all of those learnings and experiences to create the Ikon. And I firmly believe that the Ikon wouldn't be successful today, if we didn't do the Escort in the first place. And then when it comes to building the plant, the way its been done, it has been a very good exercise. Excellent investment efficiency. For the money we spent, we have been able to buy very good equipment and build a world class plant.

We have a broader definition of leadership. We are not just about making cars for the car's sake. We are trying to build a business that would be here in a 100 years time, that would be regarded as leaders in a whole range of ways. We are trying to build a business where we have got a superior brand equity, that our people are thought of as being the very best in the industry, that our opinion is valued and is important. That India feels that we are making a contribution to the country, as well as satisfying our business needs. And of course, the way to do that is to have the right products that will change value and demand. And once we have proved to ourselves that we have mastered Ikon, it will be time to broaden the range and bring other products and services into the market. We are patient and trying to do things the right way.

I think there will be some consolidation in the market which will largely be along global lines, but I think the emerging competitor is quite clearly Maruti Suzuki. I wouldn't write them off. They have just got to cope with adapting from a monopoly to a competitive market. I am sure they will go through some difficulties, but they will get there.

Yes, I think they would start to go away. You can't have competitors discounting irresponsibly, for very long. You can't sell vehicles below cost for very long. At the end of the day, you are just not viable as a business. I think some of the nonsense we have been seeing in the market, will start to diminish. In fact, there are some signs that it already has and clearly what we have tried to do through all of this, is try to look after the 16,000 plus Ikon customers that we have already got, ensuring that they have got their value. I think Ikon represents our standing value. We didn't do anything to devalue the investment and trust that they have in us. We managed to go through the whole period without getting involved in discounts and were one of the few competitors who did that.

No. I don't think so. It will never get all the way to 100%. But it will get farther than it is today. We are still working on improving our local content which is 73% at the moment, and it will get to around 80% by this time next year.

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