“If you’ve driven a Ford lately, chances are a Mac mini deserves some of the credit. Ford Motor’s contractor has installed the Apple-made computers in two of the automaker’s northern Indiana factories as part of a sequencing solution to boost assembly line efficiency,” Jim Dalrymple reports for Macworld.
“‘Mac minis are cost effective and they are reliable machines,” said Jonathan Schalliol, vice president of business development and chief financial officer of Information in Place,” Dalrymple reports. “The Bloomington, Ind.-based company is responsible for the development and installation of the Mac minis in Ford’s plants. ‘We did a lot of research and determined they were the best deal.'”
“A total of 14 Mac minis running on Intel Core Solo chips have been operational at the plants since early November, helping Ford assemble 800 cars a day. So far, everything is working perfectly, according to Schalliol,” Dalrymple reports. “As a result of the testing to put this project together, Schalliol said most of the people at his company, including the office staff, are now using Macs. For those that need Windows, the company has purchased the Parallels Desktop for Mac virtualization software.”
Full article, which explains what the minis do for Ford along with a photo, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “dontfearthetuba” and “loki capret” for the heads up.]
A mini foot in the door. Other business enterprises should take notice.
Related article:
Apple’s Mac means business – December 18, 2006
See. Macs are affordable.
Ford needs all of the help they can get these days. I’m glad they’re using a few Macs, but I wouldn’t take one of their cars if they gave me one for free.
Someone should forward this to a certain Chicago area school district tech director.
Even with a great computer helping out. If you have crap programming going in, the result is crap coming out. Thank you Ford for allowing me to hate you just that little bit more!!!
No f’ing way I’ll ever use Macs!!!
What do you think I am, stupid? Not going to put anyone on my staff out of a job and diminish my staffing levels (power) in the company.
NO F’ING WAY!!!
STFU about Macs – ain’t gonna happen on my watch!
Okay… When does BMW buy their first mini?
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The Day Pigs Fly
“A total of 14 Dells running on Intel Core Solo chips have been operational at the plants since early November, helping GM assemble 800 cars a day. So far, everything is working perfectly, according to Schalliol,” Dalrymple reports. “As a result of the testing to put this project together, Schalliol said most of the people at his company, including the office staff, are now using Windows.
Remenber: apple inovates,microsoft limitates
Guess we don´t want to discuss how Ford is about bankrupt…
So is Apple going to be tagged with riding that sinking boat down?
I wish that this story was associated with an auto manufacturer that wasn’t slowing going bankrupt.
If you’ve seen Casino Royale, you’ll have seen probably the most fabulous car in the world…
The DB9 from Aston Martin is owned by Ford….
More of a MacBook Pro than a Mini I accept.
One car related fact for you: OS X was launched in 2001, the same year as BMW relaunched the Mini… The Mini has just been updated to its “Tiger” equivalent.
Two classic icons running in tandem.
Oh yes, one of the great subjects to bring up. Nothing gets people screaming and frothing more than politics, computer choices and automobile preferences.
Just for the record, though. I used to do advertising for one of the largest Ford dealerships in America. Because of that I received great deals on cars. I bought a Mercury Sable and a Mercury Mountaineer. While I really have no allegiance to any automaker, I can tell you that these two cars have been flawless. The Sable is now three years old with 100,000 miles and the only money I have put in (other than oil changes and tires) were new brakes. The Mountaineer is 2 years old and has never seen the inside of a repair facility.
“I wish that this story was associated with an auto manufacturer that wasn’t slowing going bankrupt.”
Are there any (in America)? GM is in the same boat and Chrysler had to be bought out by Germans.
Anyone dissing Ford is obviously living in the past. I’ve got a shiny new Mustang GT, and not only have the reviews been stellar, the new Mustang is, quite simply, the best “bang for the buck” out there. It’s drop dead gorgeous, has the same 0-60 times as an Aston Martin DB9, and on my holiday vacation, my 300 HP pony averaged 27.5 MPG (at 70 MPH) on the freeway. At $26K, the new Mustang’s are a steal!
MW “city”, as in Detroit!
The story doesn’t have to be about an American owned company to suit me.
Also in regards the Aston Martin: I wholeheartedly agree that it is one of the sexiest cars on the road. I had the pleasure of driving the the V12 Aston Martin Vanquish of a couple of days. I SO-O-O wish that I could own one of those! But note that Ford is looking for a buy of the Aston Martin operations.
Ok, let’s get a few things straight about American auto makers.
First of all: GM
-They’re making an amazing turn-around and will be profitable within 2 years. Look at the all-new Saturn line-up (they have added brand new cars to their line-up within 2 years, thus now only having to replace the ION with the European Opel Astra). Chevy is slowly but surely getting redone. Pontiac and Buick are up next to get redone and chances are they will be closely related to some amazing GM Australia products (read: Holden).
FORD: they are about 2 years behind GM in their “turn-around”. In 2 years, they will be introducing brand-new cars, probably Ford-Europe sourced – which is a good thing. They are currently planning their portfolio and are in the drawing room stages. They will also have strong collaboration with Ford Australia and all the other international Ford offices.
Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep: I don’t really know what they’re up to, but it looks like they’re getting something done. They need more cost-savings by sharing platforms for CARS – not SUVS like Durango and Aspen.
Anyway, not to make this a car forum: BEFORE ANYONE GOES ON BASHING FORD AND GM, THEY SHOULD REALIZE THAT THEY ARE DOING SO WITHOUT HAVING SUBSTANTIAL INFORMATION – THUS TALKING OUT OF THE ASS#S. Analogy: uninformed Windows users talking smack about Apple/Macs even though they don’t know what’s going on – they’ve never used (driven) one or they don’t know what the company has in it’s plans (Leopard; or in our case, the great cars GM and FORD have up their sleeves).
Peace
Oh and forgot:
-Dissing Americans now is like dissing Apple right when Jobs came back after NEXT buyout: you haven’t even given him/them a chance.
So give them a chance, and watch the upcoming Detroit auto show – running Jan. 7-9 – a good time for us Apple fans as well. It’s like a double birthday present!!!
“Nothing gets people screaming and frothing more than politics, computer choices and automobile preferences.”
You left out sex and religion. But at least with computer choices, there really is only <u>one</u> right answer. Can you teach an old dogma new tricks?
I’ve never been a Ford fan, but I recently rented a Focus for a trip and found it a very nice car. Good ride and handling, quiet and comfortable, and the little sweetie dished out 38 mpg. Not bad at all. Now the new CEO of Ford comes from Boeing where, under his watch, they introduced the use of carbon fiber materials to build far lighter planes that use 20% less fuel than the competition. Carbon fiber is feather light compared to steel and it has 12 times the impact resistance in a crash. Moreover, carbon fiber parts can be moled and extruded like plastic and they can snap together, which introduces real economies in the manufacturing process. Imagine a roomy, safe, powerful, and cheaper car that gets terrific gas mileage.. That could make Ford very competitive, assuming they survive to make the conversion.
Well, this is interesting. Given my previous screed regarding how reluctant most corp enviros would be to integrating Macs into aged systems, to see a bottom of the barrel auto maker actually do something like this, well… I must admit, I’m impressed. Then again, it’s still just a front end to an assembly DB, which I already admitted would be much more suitable for Mac upgrades. And seriously, this is exactly what Ford et al. need to do if they want to be competitive.
That and make a fuckin’ small hybrid sedan.
Since the Macs were installed by a contractor, I doubt their IT folks had any say in it.
It was probably green lighted by their Prod Engineers.
S
Regardless of how the Mac got into the assembly line, the point is, they are in.
And now that they’re there, people can see for real how Macs perform in mission critical roles. I think the conclusion will be, “Hey, not only do these Macs run non-stop flawlessly, we don’t experience the downtime associated with keeping our AV software up-to-date and BSOD!”
And that performance under pressure is wha’ts convincing die-hard Windows users to move to the Mac.
I gave Ford, GM and Dodge a chance.
I now drive a fine American vehicle. A new Toyota Tundra made in Indiana. Ford, GM and Dodge did not pass the test.
Besides, the resale value of a used Ford, GM or Dodge pickup is about 1/2 that of a similarly equipped Toyota pickup of the same vintage with the same mileage.
I agree. People who hate on Ford must undergo temporary blindness every time a new Mustang drives down the road. Those cars are the among the sweetest out there and they are dirt cheap.
As for GM, you have seen the newer Caddys and the Pontiac Solstice, right? Chevy’s cars get darn good gas mileage — I drove an Impala and a Monte Carlo recently. We’re talking 32+ highway. It was like driving my old Honda Civic all over again.
Do you people live in the real world, or just some paranoid hater Bizarro world?
Ford-
Fix Or Repair Daily.
14 mac minis, eh? Wow. Stock should surge on that news tomorrow!