[3]                  Ford Model E Program
                               by William Rohler
                               wrohler@peoplepc.com

On February 3, 2000, Ford Motor Company Chairman Bill Ford, Chief
Executive Officer and President Jac Nasser, and UAW President Stephen
Yokich announced that Ford would offer all of its eligible active
employees a computer, printer and Internet access for home use for a
fee ($5.00 per month in the U.S., for example) for three years. All
active, full-time hourly and salaried employees of Ford Motor Company
worldwide including Ford Credit and Visteon are eligible.

"Technology and the Internet, in particular, are changing the way we
do our business," said Jac Nasser. "Providing home computers for
employees is a tremendous step in the right direction of connecting
all of our employees with what's going on with the company the way we
run the business and the way we communicate with our markets."

"The intent of this program is to bring the capability of our
employees up to the highest level," said company Vice President and
Chief Information Officer Jim Yost. "In order to do that, they have
to have access to the Internet. Not only to learn more about Ford,
but about the customer and e-commerce in general."

The program was first called Ford Employee Connectivity Program
(FECP). But on July 28, 2000, it was changed to the Model E program. 
"Model E is the modern equivalent of Henry Ford's $5 a day wage a
breakthrough approach to empowering a workforce," said Jac Nasser
during a speech on July 27 at the National Press Club in Washington,
D.C.

The computer is a Hewlett-Packard with an Intel Celeron 500 megahertz
(MHz) processor, 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM, 4.3 gigabyte (GB) hard disk
drive, a CD-ROM player, a 15 inch monitor, speakers, a modem,
software, a HP 640 Color Inkjet printer, and Internet access from
UUNET, an MCI WorldCom company based in Fairfax, Va. PeoplePC is
coordinating the overall program for Ford. The software package will
include word processing, spreadsheet and antivirus programs, and other
extras, including Encarta encyclopedia and Quicken financial software.

The program is optional and the computer package will become the
property of the employee and will be covered by a three-year parts and
service warranty through PeoplePC. Employees will not be restricted
in what Web sites they are able to access nor will they be monitored
by Ford or by PeoplePC. Employees will access the Internet through a
special portal that will allow them to customize their options,
preferences and shortcuts. The portal will offer direct links to many
Ford services and information, and it will be customized for different
regions of the world. "When employees choose to use the portal, they
can get work-related information," explained Yost. "But we're not
limiting it to that use. We want them to get on the Web and use it
like our customers would." Every employee will get two e-mail
addresses and tools to construct his or her own Web site. The program
is not available for retirees and part-time employees. There are
upgrade packages for people that want to pay extra for them.

Model E program Director Steve Paschen said "Each country we go to has
a different tax structure. In some countries we go to, this is
considered a benefit, and certain countries tax benefits, and they
either tax the employee and/or they tax the employers." That raises
the cost of the program to potentially prohibitive levels and has
slowed the rollout. However progress is being made in several
countries, including France and Germany, which should soon permit Ford
employees there to begin logging on.

Paschen also said "In the U.S., people have just gotten their
computers within the last few months. They're just getting online;
they're just getting comfortable with it. So I think we've got a huge
opportunity in front of us to start to really provide them the tools
and the information they're looking for."

"Those are the kinds of things that I think we can really have a lot
of fun with and we can really make a huge difference," Paschen
concluded.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reprinted from the Amateur Computerist Vol 10 No 2 Spring 2001.
The whole issue or a subscription is available for free via email.
Send a request to jrh@ais.org  or see  http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/
----------------------------------------------------------------------