CATEGORIES

• Ask ColCam
• Commercials
• Full Ford
• Going Ford
• Industry News
• My Wheels
• Racing
• Events
• Test Drive
• Ford Dealer List

SPECIAL

Ford Territory

SPECIAL

Ford Territory

India Fiesta: Ford Australia Executive Biographies

Staff, Tuesday December 13, 2005.

Page 1 of 1

Born in the country Victoria town of Tallangatta, Trevor grew up in Benalla, in the state's north east. The town's close proximity to the Winton Motor Raceway gave the young Trevor the chance to pursue his love of the Blue Oval brand.

Always a Ford fan, Trevor followed the exploits of Moffat, Goss and Bond, et al at Winton and the old Hume Weir circuit.

Benalla's excellent gliding centre provided Trevor with the means to develop his interest in aircraft and, after completing secondary school, he went on to complete a Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering degree from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, in 1984.

Trevor joined Ford Australia as a product planner in 1985 and held various positions associated with the Laser and Telstar carlines.

It was during this period he built a Mazda RX3 coupe, with help from some friends, to compete in the Victorian Road Registered Racing Championship.

In 1989 Trevor moved to Taiwan for a one-year stint in a planning / program management role.

On his return to Australia he spent time as a design engineer working on Ford's heavy truck and light truck lines. He likened this era to having his own personal life-size meccano set.

From there Trevor moved on to a design supervision role on the SE Capri program, with responsibility for Chassis and Driveline, IP and seats.

In 1993 he completed an MBA in International Business at Monash University.

He joined the manufacturing team at Broadmeadows plant in a launch engineering leadership role with EF Falcon, focusing on interior and exterior trim, followed by his appointment to the position as Quality Assurance Manager for the Broadmeadows plant with responsibility for all quality matters.

Trevor moved back into the product development fold with a role as PD timing and prototype build manager. During this period, Ford Australia product development began its understanding and adoption of FPDS (Ford Product development System). Next came a role as Test Operations Manager with responsibility for the Ford Proving Ground, and test laboratories.

Trevor then moved to Ford US headquarters in Detroit in August 1998, to take up a role as the North American Car Fuel Systems engineering manager. The position had responsibility for fuel system storage and delivery for the Mustang, Lincoln LS, Thunderbird, Taurus, Windstar and the Panther platform vehicles.

He returned to Ford Australia in February 2000, to take up the position of Falcon Carline Director. The position had overall responsibility for current and future programs derived from the Falcon platform. These programs included the BA Falcon with all of the associated derivatives, plus the Territory.

In July 2002, Trevor was appointed to the position of Vice President, Product Development, Ford Australia. In this role Trevor leads all elements of the Product Development process for Falcon, Falcon Ute, Fairlane, LTD, and the Territory vehicles.

Trevor is married to Robin and they have two sons. The family enjoys sport, cycling, and travel.

MURRAY DIETSCH
B Car Chief Nameplate Engineer  

Murray Dietsch is the B Car Chief Nameplate Engineer for Ford Asia Pacific & Africa, and was appointed to this position in August 2004. Prior to this assignment, Murray was Chief Program Engineer for the India four door Fiesta.

Murray was born in Sydney in 1967. In his youth, Murray was very mechanically minded and spent his time tinkering with go karts and motorbikes. He also displayed a keen interest in electronics which, together with his mechanical aptitude, led him to study Engineering at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. Murray received a Bachelor's Degree in Electronic Systems Engineering, graduating with Honours in 1989.

In 1990, Murray joined Ford Australia's Product Development Group as a Graduate Engineer. Early in his engineering career he had a number of assignments in Vehicle Engineering, Product Design and Program Management, before a promotion to Supervisor, Engineering Services in 1997.

This first managerial position was a very diverse one, with responsibilities encompassing the deployment of advanced computing infrastructure to streamline product development, to the implementation of Ford's Environmental System. It was in this role that his team received awards for the first Ford non-production site globally to achieve certification to the ISO 14001 Standard.

Having demonstrated a broad engineering capability, Murray moved away from Product Development to hold a number of cross functional roles in IT and Manufacturing. In 1998, he was appointed Manager, C3P Systems Technology where he oversaw the strategic planning and deployment of IT solutions and technology for the development of new vehicle programs.

Then, in 1999, Murray was appointed Plant Vehicle Team Manager where he was responsible for product related engineering in the Broadmeadows Vehicle Assembly plant in Melbourne.

Returning to Product Development in 2001, he held the position of Chassis & Powertrain Manager for the 2004MY Territory program before being appointed Chief Program Engineer for the India four door Fiesta in 2002.

As Chief Program Engineer, Murray oversaw the design & development of an all new B Car for the Indian market. Significantly, this involved relocating the engineering base for this product from Ford of Europe to Ford Australia and establishing a regional engineering team of some 150-200 engineers. Representing a number of firsts for Ford Australia Product Development, the successful development and launch of the Fiesta was a key enabler in further developing engineering capability and growth for the Asia Pacific region.

Murray Dietsch is married with 3 children.

ROB CONNOR
Fiesta Vehicle, Chassis and Powertrain Manager  

Rob Connor was born in 1966 in Darlington, United Kingdom. He joined Ford in 1985 as a sponsored student while studying Mechanical Engineering at Loughborough University (UK), and commenced working full time for the Motor Company in 1989.

Rob's first assignment was in Chassis Engineering, working specifically on brake development. He then progressed to Engine Engineering and carried out engine development on powertrain dynos for Ford of Europe's first volume application of 16 valve engine technology.

Rob's extensive work in development engineering included a stint with the Special Vehicle Engineering team, a period of high level involvement in performance orientated derivatives.

As with many Ford engineers, Rob's talents have seen him seconded to various locations around the world.

With specific regard to Fiesta programmes, Rob has work experience in Brazil, USA, UK and Germany.

Rob moved to Australia in 2002, in his capacity as Vehicle Engineering Manager for Fiesta. A mid-year promotion saw him become Manager for Vehicle, Chassis and Powertrain.

Rob attributes his passion with all things automotive to his early childhood, where he had lots of experience with cars.

"I have fond memories of riding motorbikes and driving cars on my friend's farm from an early age. I remember developing a keen interest in all things mechanical but especially those with engines ? this resulted in many project cars springing up at various times over the years."

"While opportunities to drive cars on farms has curtailed over the past few years, I have developed a passion for recreational running and am also an enthusiastic mountain biker."

Rob is married, and has a 2 year old son.

ALAN JENNINGS
Fiesta Chief Program Engineer

Alan Jennings was born in 1948 in London, United Kingdom, and was educated via a Ford Motor Company (UK) sponsored course which involved half of his time working for the Motor Company and the other half studying Mechanical Engineering at Barking University in Essex.

Following graduation, Alan's permanent employment commenced at the Ford Research and Engineering centre at Dunton in Essex, where he assisted in the development of the first evaporative emissions systems for use on USA bound Cortina and Capri vehicles.

Alan continued his experience in Dunton by becoming responsible for the exhaust emission (Engine Design) program for these same products for the USA, up until 1973 when he sought a new life/work experience in Australia.

Alan's move to Ford Australia offered many exciting opportunities. His first responsibility was to develop, validate and productionise the I6 engined Falcon vehicle lines to meet the new Australian Design Rules for exhaust and evaporative emissions.

Much of the 1970's was spent devoted to the Falcon program, specifically engineering innovations and developments associated with fine tuning the engine equation.

In 1981, Alan progressed to his first management position as Supervisor of the Emissions Laboratory.

Since then, Alan has progressed through most areas within Product Development, including management of many facets of the Capri USA export program (1992 ? 1995) and manager of the Production Releasing and Prototype Build Department.

Alan's initial involvement with the Fiesta program commenced in late 2001, when he was asked to review the proposed Fiesta program in relation to support requirements from his department. However, it was during an investigative trip to India in January 2002, that he was asked to become the Program Manager for Fiesta.

Program Management for Fiesta became rapidly very busy, developing new processes and procedures and working with a young and dynamic team.

Alan was promoted to Chief Program Engineer in January 2005, and work on the new model culminated with its launch in India in November 2005.

"The Fiesta program has been enormously rewarding, across a wide variety of different facets," commented Alan.

"There have been challenges associated with new market requirements and rich cultural diversification - for example, Ford India sent 13 engineers to work with the Ford Australia team - right through to global process developments unknown to Ford Australia prior to this program.

MARK RAMPLING
Body/ Electrical Manager

Mark Rampling was born and raised in the United Kingdom, and completed a Master of Engineering and Management degree in 1985. Mark joined Ford of Britain upon completion of his studies, and was based at Dunton Engineering Centre.

His first three years were spent working in Body Engineering, and he then spent nine years working on a variety of projects in the Programme Office.

Included amongst his assignments was a three year stint working in Germany on a Joint Venture programme with Volkswagen.

Mark returned to Body Engineering in 1998 and worked on the European Fiesta programme as Body Structures supervisor though to 2002, overseeing a team of up to 12 engineers. The team was responsible for the sheet metal body, taking it from a clay model to releasing individual body panels, building and testing prototypes, and finally seeing the complete bodies rolling down the production line in Cologne, Germany. During this period, Mark experienced life in North America and Cologne.

Mark moved to Australia in May 2002, when he started on a three year assignment to work on the new Fiesta for India. Mark had a team of 30 engineers, who were responsible for all of body exterior (sheet metal, doors, glass, bumpers, lamps), body interior (instrument panel, seats, carpet, trim, heating/air conditioning, locks/latches/handles, wipers, regulators) and all electrics (wiring, GEM, cluster, audio, alternator/battery).

As with other engineers working on the India Fiesta programme, Mark spent a large amount of time in India. In 2004, Mark spent nine weeks in India, and 16 weeks in 2005.

Mark joined Ford Australia permanently in July 2005, and when not at work enjoys Hi-Fi and music, F1 motor racing, photography, and travel.

Another positive aspect of Mark's move is an opportunity to indulge one of his favourite interests ? Australian wine.

For further information, please contact:
Ford Australia Public Affairs
Phone: 03-9359 8491
Fax: 03-9359 8900

Previous Article: India Fiesta: The Nuts And Bolts of a New Fiesta
Next Article: India Fiesta: Australian Know-How Behind India's New Ford Fiesta