No one person can accomplish all the great things that happened to make this company successful.
which products to produce for its approximately 85 different markets around the world. The work is precise; the stakes are high. “We use a lot of models to determine what will be the pace of vehicle ownership rate increases, especially in the emerging markets,” she explains. “In mature markets we’re looking at replacement demand — whether, for example, there’s a boost to vehicle demand because of population growth. We look at demographics databases to understand those dynamics. In some of our mature markets, like the U.S. and Canada, we’re looking at the role of housing recovery and energy-supply growth, and how that might affect demand for commercial vehicle growth.” If the team isolates economic shifts they think are important, they’ll work with Ford’s decisionmakers to determine needed adjustments in areas like production, inventory management, or product pricing. Hughes-Cromwick especially enjoys this opportunity to interact with a wide variety of people throughout the company — from engineers to marketers to factory workers.
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“They all understand a lot of economics and are very appreciative of the tools and assessments that we bring to them as they try to make the best decisions possible,” she says. “It’s economics coming alive that really excites all of us.” The factors influencing vehicle production costs and consumer purchasing at any given time and place are in constant flux, and Hughes-Cromwick’s team must be able to identify, in a timely fashion, a wide range of economically relevant events — social, demographic, political, financial or even climatic — to gauge their potential impact on vehicle production and demand in any given market. It’s the changeability of the economic landscape that fuels the economist’s palpable enthusiasm for her work. “Every day is different and that’s what’s so exciting,” she says. “We may see a devaluation that has been taking place in a particular country that requires us to assess its impact on inflation and the likely change in economic growth and vehicle demand. We’re constantly monitoring and analyzing situations, such as Europe. How is Europe’s debt crisis evolving? Has there been enough policy adjustment, both monetarily and fiscally, to ensure more stability and improve the unemployment situation? “In the case of emerging markets, we’re doing a lot of work on the pace of slowdown in growth. In China and India, for example, we’ve seen how high inflation and high interest rates have an adverse impact on economic growth, and we’re working diligently to understand whether this is a persistent phenomenon or just a business cycle.” Hughes-Cromwick continues to help Ford think proactively, move nimbly, and respond assertively in a crowded global market still roiled by perilous economic waters. The meticulous numbers-cruncher with a Clark pedigree is committed to seeing the big picture, sometimes even before it appears.
fall 2013
Photo of a Lincoln body-finish department, circa 1925.