拯救福特的守财奴

    在美国的汽车城底特律，搞财务的人——也就是数钱的人，是最不受待见的。虽然他们的工作也许很重要，不过他们就是对车柱上的特殊曲线、肩线上的镀铬和前卫的N辐铝合金轮毂说“不”的人。

    在我对汽车业长达35年的报道生涯中，我记得在通用汽车公司（General Motors）里搞财务的人一向被视为公司成功发布新产品的最大阻碍。不过他们的权力大都来自围绕着他们建立起来的官僚主义作风。

    在钱上最锱铢必较的人当属福特前CEO雷德•波林。波林有他自己的一套原则，而且为了坚持原则不惜和任何人作对。他得罪过的工程师、设计师和产品策划师不下几十人。他与时任福特高管的鲍伯•卢茨的冲突尤为经典——至少在鲍伯•卢茨后来的复述中是这样的。

    福特公司1989年解聘了时任董事长兼CEO的唐•彼得森，让时年63岁的波林接掌帅印，带领公司应对即将到来的经济衰退。现在看来，福特家族的选择很明智。

    波林于5月12日去世，享年86岁。福特公司上周二宣布了他的死讯。

    波林生前有三个原则：一、赢得汽车业务的办法就是做成本最低的生产商；二、做成本最低的生产商的办法就是设立积极的成本目标，然后实现它们；三、新车的后备厢总是要比在售的老款大。（作为一个业余高尔夫球手，波林对车子装载高尔夫球袋的能力非常敏感。）

    如果公司没有满足某个财务目标，波林可能就会“火山爆发”。作家玛丽•沃顿在《汽车》（Car）一书中讲述了1996年福特Taurus轿车背后的研发故事。书中说，“一款车型的成本对他来说是最重要的事。”1986版的Taurus轿车采用了符合空气动力学的“糖豆”型设计，对于福特来说是一个革命性的突破，虽然这款轿车取得了巨大的成功，但也并未满足福特之前设定的目标。它的实际成本比计划成本高出216美元/台，而且投产日期也比计划晚了三个月。

    Taurus轿车后来获得了“年度轿车”之类的美誉，不过波林当时并不满意。他对总工程师卢•沃拉尔迪说：“他无法信任他了，因为他超出了预算。”Taurus的成功可能使沃拉尔迪在福特成了神一样的人物，不过在波林却不以为然。几年后，波林和沃拉尔迪都退休了，但波林还是耿耿于怀。他对波林说：“我本来非常看重卢•沃拉尔迪。不过他不像我想象的那样关心成本。”

    The finance guys, the ones who count the money, are the least popular guys in Detroit. Essential though their job may be, they are the ones who say "no" to the special curve in the roof pillar, the extra bit of chrome on the shoulder line, or the fancy spokes on the aluminum wheels.

    In my 35 years covering the auto industry, the finance guys at General Motors (GM) were reputed to be the biggest obstacles to successful new product programs, but their power mostly stemmed from the bureaucracy that had been erected around them.

    The toughest bean counter in town, hands down, was Red Poling. Poling had his principles and he was willing to defend them against anyone. He took on engineers, designers, and product planners by the dozen, and his clashes with Bob Lutz, then a Ford (F) executive, were monumental -- at least in Lutz's dramatic retelling of them.

    So the Ford family knew what it was doing when it pushed Don Petersen out as chairman and CEO in 1989 and installed a 63-year-old Poling to keep the company afloat during the oncoming recession.

    Poling died last Saturday at the age of 86. Ford Motor reported his death on Tuesday.

    Poling had three principles: the way to win in the car business is to be the low-cost producer, the way to be the low-cost producer was to set aggressive cost targets and hit them, and the trunk of a new car always had to be bigger than the one on the outgoing model. (As a low-handicap golfer, Polling was sensitive to carrying capacity for golf bags).

    Missing a financial target could be the occasion for a volcanic explosion from Poling. In "Car," the story behind the development of the 1996 Taurus, author Mary Walton describes him as "a man to whom the cost of a car was paramount." The '86 Taurus, the hugely successful jelly bean shaped model that revolutionized Ford, did not meet its targets. It cost $216 more to make each one than planned and its production had started three months behind schedule.

    The Taurus would go on to win Car of the Year accolades, but Poling wasn't satisfied. He told the engineer in charge, Lew Veraldi, that "he couldn't trust him because he'd overrun his budget." The success of the Taurus would make Veraldi a deity at Ford, but not to Poling. Years later, after both men had retired, Poling was still angry. He told Walton, "I thought very highly of Lew Veraldi. He was not as concerned with cost as I felt he should be."