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Ford turns to workers for answers
Auto manufacturer makes another push to identify cost-cutting ideas, newspaper report says.
October 25, 2005: 7:48 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Ford Motor Co. is looking to its employees for ideas about how to stem losses, according to a published report.

The Detroit News reported that salaried employees in Ford's Americas division received an e-mail Friday from division president Mark Fields, encouraging them to share cost-cutting and other suggested improvements in operations with senior management.

The response is strong," Ford spokesman Oscar Suris told the newspaper. He said replies are going directly to Fields and his team, which is reviewing each response.

Wall Street has been looking for Ford to announce a reorganization plan to stem losses in its core North American auto operations. But the company did not give details of any plans when it reported a quarterly loss last week. Plans are now expected to be revealed in January.

Company Chairman and CEO William Ford Jr. called on employees in September to step forward with good ideas, saying the company needed to reinvigorate the spirit of innovation. During his post-financial results conference call last week, he told analysts and investors that employees took that invitation seriously.

"I've been flooded with e-mails from employees with ideas -- and not just product innovation: everything from plant ideas to saving money, ideas to reach the customer," Ford said. "There is a lot of pent-up demand, apparently."

David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, told the newspaper that traditionally Ford employees have felt they couldn't get ideas through the company bureaucracy.

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