When an Order is "Picked Up"

[piomice]

I ordered my truck on 2.20.2008 and got my order confirmation sheet on the spot. The dealer said they'd call me when they received a status for my order. As of this past Friday (3 1/2 weeks after the order), they still have no information for me. I pushed a little harder and found out that the order is expected to be "picked up" by Ford this coming week.

Three Questions:

1. What exactly does it mean when they say the order is "picked up"? The factory is already aware of an order the day it's submitted, is it not?
2. Approximately how long from when the order is picked up does it usually take?
3. If my dealer doesn't have status, then how could they possibly know when the order is going to be picked up? Are they just giving me the runaround??

TIA

-Mike

[PowerStrokeHD]

No the factory is not aware of the order on the day it was submitted. The order is first submitted to MS&S where it will sit unscheduled until commodities and your dealers allocation allow it to be selected or "picked up" for build. Once selected, MS&S will transfer the order to MP&L. MP&L will order the parts, issue a VIN and schedule a build week based on parts availability. Once MP&L confirms parts availiability they will schedule a build day and then submit the order to the plant.

MS&S = Marketing Sales and Service
MP&L = Material Planning and Logistics

From the time a order is selected from the unscheduled order bank to production is currently running about 2 weeks.

Orders are selected from the unscheduled order bank once a week and a good dealer should have a idea when a order will be scheduled based on their allocation vs how many vehicles they want to order and any known commodity shortages.

...

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by piomice

1. What exactly does it mean when they say the order is "picked up"?

This is all done electronically, but think of your order as a piece of paper.

The dealer sends your order to Ford. Ford puts the order in a big stack of orders it has received but has not scheduled for production.

Every Thursday Ford sifts through the stack of unscheduled orders looking for the ones that will move to the next stage of orders. When they find one they will move to the next stage, they "pick up" the order and move it to a different pile.

At about the same time as they pick up the order, a VIN is assigned and the assembly plant is selected and notified of the order, and the status of the order is changed in the system, and the dealer is notified.

The assembly plant then schedules the order for production and notifies the dealer of the estimated week of production.

The factory is already aware of an order the day it's submitted, is it not?

Depends on your definition of "factory". Ford knows about, but as PowerStrokeHD mentioned, they don't notify the assembly plant until the order is "picked up" for production.

2. Approximately how long from when the order is picked up does it usually take?

Roughly a month if everything goes according to plan, and assuming you live near a train depot in the lower 48 states.

3. If my dealer doesn't have status, then how could they possibly know when the order is going to be picked up?

Experience. Your dealer has "status", but it is simply the status that says the order is in the big pile of unscheduled orders. And most experienced dealerpersons know that Ford "picks up" new orders on Thursday. So if the status doesn't change on Friday, then he knows it will probably be at least a week before Ford picks up new orders.

It gets complicated, with component shortages sometimes determining whether an order gets picked up. A component might be a 4x4 front axle, or the seat covers on a King Ranch, or 20" wheels, or the tires to match those wheels.

Also in times of demand exceeding supply of new vehicles, Ford allocates new orders to the dealers based on past sales. So if your dealer ordered three SuperDuty pickups this week but has allocation for only one, then two of those orders won't get pickup up next Thursday, but one of them will move to the "scheduled for production" pile of orders.

Although the '99-up FAQ is getting long in the tooth, there's still lots of good info in there. Click on this: The TheDieselStop.Com 1999-up FAQ