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Ford has rehired 350 veteran engineers, some former employees and others from supplier companies, to address shortcomings in artificial intelligence and automated systems that failed to meet quality standards.
According to Bloomberg, Ford’s chief operating officer Kumar Galhotra stated the company has increasingly relied on automated quality systems with unsatisfactory results. The rehired specialists, dubbed “gray beard” engineers, now identify potential failure points before parts reach production floors.
Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, acknowledged, “We mistakenly believed that simply introducing artificial intelligence and integrating design requirements would produce high-quality products.”
Despite scaling back AI initiatives, Ford is leveraging the returning engineers to mentor junior staff and recalibrate automated tools, creating a hybrid approach rather than abandoning technology entirely.
This strategy is already showing results: Ford anticipates $1 billion in cost savings this year and recently topped mainstream brand rankings in the JD Power Initial Quality Survey.
