Editing Ford Taurus (section)

== Taurus and the quality culture at Ford==

The Taurus was the first car resulting from introduction of a new quality culture at Ford. Between 1979 and 1982, Ford had incurred $3 billion in losses. In the spring of 1980, Ford Chairman Donald E. Peterson initiated a new "team" approach to the design and manufacture of automobiles at Ford, that eventually resulted in the creation of the Ford Taurus.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-06-04-8602090462-story.html|title = Chicago Tribune: Chicago news, sports, weather, entertainment|website = [[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref> Ford's newly appointed Corporate Quality Director, Larry Moore, was charged with recruiting the famous statistician, [[W. Edwards Deming]] to help jump-start a quality movement at Ford.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Deming Management Method |last=Walton |first=Mary |publisher=Penguin Group |year=1986 |pages=138–139}}</ref> Deming told Ford that management actions were responsible for 85% of all problems in developing better cars. Based on Deming's advice, Ford management was charged with primary responsibility for automobile quality. Ford also adopted a quality culture employing [[statistical process control]] across all aspects of automobile design and manufacture. The Ford Taurus was the first Ford model resulting from this statistical approach to manufacture. In a letter to Autoweek, Donald Petersen, then Ford chairman, said, "We are moving toward building a quality culture at Ford and the many changes that have been taking place here have their roots directly in Deming's teachings."<ref>[http://www.sme.org/cgi-bin/get-press.pl?&&20012513&ND&&SME& Ford Embraces Six-Sigma Quality Goals.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312105954/http://www.sme.org/cgi-bin/get-press.pl?&&20012513&ND&&SME& |date=March 12, 2007 }} Accessed: July 31, 2006.</ref> This new emphasis on quality in the manufacture of the Ford Taurus was reflected in Ford's advertising and marketing. The New York advertising firm [[Wells, Rich, Greene]] took on the Ford account in 1979 and Robert Cox was assigned to the Ford account and by the summer of 1981, "Quality is Job 1" became Ford's calling card in marketing. This emphasis on quality was used heavily in marketing of the Ford Taurus.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.autonews.com/article/20160629/RETAIL03/160629819/robert-cox-ad-man-behind-fords-quality-is-job-1-pitch-dies|title = Robert Cox, ad man behind Ford's 'Quality is Job 1' pitch, dies|date = June 29, 2016}}</ref>