Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day at the Ryan house. It's the most wonderful time of the year! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a joyous 2008!!
**If the slide show stops running - click the PLAY > button twice to start it up!**

Karlen Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve day at Ken and Stephanie's home. Chase must have been good this year, because he really racked up the goodies. On the other hand, Kelly got a big lump of coal in her stocking this year. We covered both the Naughty and the Nice lists!
**If the slide show stops running - click the PLAY > button twice to start it up!**

Euchre Christmas

Kelly's Euchre club celebrated Christmas on 12/14 - what a bunch of cards!

Birthday boys

We celebrated Charlie and Jason's birthdays with Joan and Ted this weekend. Charlie will be 37 on 12/12 and Jason will be 38 on 12/16. 40 is getting pretty close! Click here to view the rest of the pictures.

Ford President's Award

On 5 December, Jason represented the Louisville Assembly Plant at the annual Ford Motor Company President's Award Celebration in Dearborn, MI. The Ford Explorer won the awards for most improved warranty repairs and most improved warranty costs among all Ford/Lincoln/Mercury vehicles. The Explorer, Mountaineer, and Sport Trac were also recognized as Consumer Reports "Recommended Buys". As a lot of folks already know, Jason is the Electrical Leader for the Explorer, Mountaineer, and Sport Trac; his team's efforts have resulted in a 40+% improvement in quality in the last year. In June, his team was recognized by Joe Hinrichs (VP of North American manufacturing) as the top-performer among the 168 quality improvement teams in the company.

The Ford nameplate has made nice progress in quality - moving from 10th in 2006 to tied with Toyota for 2nd in 2007. The keynote speaker at the celebration was noted automotive journalist John McElroy. He made it clear that the difficulty Ford faced was changing customers' perspectives regarding Ford's quality; we must do a better job getting the word out. This is especially true on the east and west coasts where only 14% of buyers even consider domestic manufacturers when deciding which automobile to buy. The "quality gap" between domestic and Asian manufacturers is a myth that must be dispelled.

It's been a very difficult year with the layoffs, buyouts, line speed reduction, etc. It is nice to receive recognition after so much hard work and effort.

Ford Christmas party

This past weekend we attended the Ford Louisville Assembly Plant Christmas party. It was a really nice evening. They held it at the Polo Fields clubhouse. They had a good dinner, a fun photographer and the plant manager gave a speech reflecting on the accomplishments of the year. We are so thankful that the plant will be getting another product and will remain open! It was a great party!