Huge news! I'm moving to Kansas...

[basketcase0302]

Well my mouth just hit the floor and at the same time so...happy for you boss!

No one could ever be so well deserving of this role other than you my friend!

And i echo what you and Randy said please...let all our voices here have been testiment to the poor quality that LMC has produced in the past, (as well as the loss in the company's profits by allowing that poor quality to exist). I will also BEG...for you the proud American, (that those of us who have been here for many years have come to know) to please bring back the manufacturing of LMC parts to the United States and out of foreign intrerests! Covid 19 has been a testiment that we need to bring back manufacturing of our parts to the US for both jobs and quality! Two recent purchaese of mine echo that sentiment, (a broken junk chinese deep well pump and a WESTINGHOUSE generator had I only know where it was made from prior topurchase i would've never bought it)!

Do you see the position altering the website here in any way? No kind of "disclosures" to shut it down or alter it, (other than the boss's LMC ads coming her soon) LOL!

May God Bless you and your family in this journey Keith. Godspeed in getting settled the farm sold and not too worry as we all know how hard you work for things and i can see a new much nicer shop in your future!

[FORDification]

Thanks everyone! Yeah, things are definitely going to get really interesting here in a few weeks!

There are no plans right now to change anything to do with the website, forums and associated Facebook groups. These will continue to operate as they do now. Our mods here have been doing an outstanding job, though it's admittedly easier now with the forums visitation down considerably due to folks migrating to Facebook (which is where I've actually been spending most of my time as well, I have to admit.)

I'm certainly going to do what I can at LMC to up the overall quality of parts. One of my main priorities I think will be their rubber products. There seems to be pretty universal agreement on the overall fit and durability of rubber gaskets, seals, weatherstripping, etc.

One thing to keep in mind...while we'd all love to see "Made in America" stickers on all our parts, a majority of the manufacturers with the capabilities of making these parts are no longer here. Take sheetmetal for example...the only places in the USA that have the capability of stamping out body panels are doing it for the big three auto manufacturers right now. While they'd invest in the retooling to also do older reproduction parts, they require a HUGE order to do so...as in tens of thousands of units minimum. Even LMC can't move that many at a time. Maybe 500 fenders at a time...but that's pushing it. So the US vendors have no choice than to go to the overseas producers. But I'll be looking into it when I start there, see if I can get more info to make any positive changes.

I'll keep posting here and in the Facebook groups as things progress, and we'll see how it goes!

[FLASH 1]

Keith I want to wish you good luck and hope that good things will come out of LMC, But and I say But they have some serious issues to address and as a vendor they have a lot of bad business problems that a lot of people do not know + me personally have been to LMC 2 times, first is the sales people and saw this first hand customer asks a ? and reply is if it does not fit bring it back in a year which is great but when you looking at a part knowing a part that has a round hole and part is square how is it going to fit, another example inside the show room was a Bronco with a lot of parts not up to standards, aluminum scuff plates 1/2 the weight of what others are selling < JUNK > if they go out to small towns and they can find places that will make USA Made Parts, if I can as a small company can do it then they should be able to. Have to remember not all people will post the bad that happens at Companies ... Their Rubber is Junk cannot say how many times we have had to correct their mistakes in that Dept. another thing is why we buy parts from the same MFG. < Dennis Carpenter > pay the same price as they do but the price is marked up from 30% to 50% so the customer gets the shaft, when it comes to Tawain Sheet Metal a lot of that I can buy for lets say 1 part our price is 9.74 and being sold at 60-70 dollars, I can Go on and on but as a small company I WILL NOT Sell Black Tawain Junk Metal only USA Made Sheet Metal and if I can find places still in this country to supply USA Made Parts, as far as the comment of 500 fenders If you had a part that fits and gets good feedback will not take long to sell them But if they are junk might as well scrap them then. Difference is I am not worry about profit margin unlike big Companies has and no real customer relations this is part of my opinion and really hope that you can be a good addition to LMC to open some new better ideas to the front office in a lot of the know how

Final Note, Tawain Mfg.'s are back stabbing people, If I had part and have been approached by many of those companies to make a part, when I send it over there by the time I get it will already be on the market cause unlike in the USA you can be on top of it in most cases, over there unless you are living there to watch it, will be 5 other companies with it, I have seen it when 53/56 front fenders where being said going in production, original company that said it put the lot of money only to find out that they here already out off there tooling

[Jsimon]

Just got a new catalog last week, already cant wait for the next one! Congratulations to all of us !

[mk]

Great to hear the news, Keith! Are they branching into olds parts as well?

[FORDification]

Well, it's official, I guess. This will my new digs for a while, a small 3BR/1BA buried deep in the 'burbs of Olathe, Kansas, about a 10-minute drive to work at LMC. I'll be renting a U-haul truck tomorrow afternoon and headed down on Friday to unload and return (4+ hours each way), then driving back down on Saturday to start unpacking.

Five days and counting to the start my my new job!

[1972hiboy]

That"s awesome Keith!
Good luck on moving the house stuff and drive safe!

[robroy]

Congratulations on your cool new adventure Keith; I'm happy for you!

[DuckRyder]

Well,

Whats this a week at the new job?

Going well we hope!

[FORDification]

Well, I'm halfway into week three as the new Ford Product Manager at LMC. The first week was 40 hours of training on the complicated computer system which handles all inventory, shipping, etc. ...and it was just scratching the surface! I still have a ways to go. I'm guessing it'll be a month or so before I'll actually be ready to take off my training wheels and start flying solo. Fortunately the guy training me is pretty cool and pretty patient, which does take a little of the stress off.

Here's a fun fact: because of the COVID19 situation, it's apparent that with everyone staying home trying to find things to do, that pretty much means all you guys are escaping to your shops and garages to do some work on your truck projects, which in turn means the past two months have pretty darned busy at LMC. The number of orders has risen so dramatically and the receiving departments in the warehouses are being so overwhelmed, that the entire Research department (including myself) spent last week helping out in the Ch*vy warehouse trying to get them caught up. While this doesn't happen that often, I'm actually kinda glad I got to spend some time there, mainly to get an understanding on what goes on behind the scenes with the crews who stock the shelves, pull parts for orders, etc. (Having said that...I never want to do it again! LOL) I don't think I've ever put as many miles on a pair of shoes as I did last week walking these aisles at the Ch*vy warehouse.

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I did proudly represent Ford in the parking lot though!

100639116_10220159940443734_3497180969058697216_o.jpg

One thing I have done is set the wheels in motion to eradicate the use of the word 'stepside' from all Ford catalogs printed by LMC. That will be happening very soon.

I think overall this is going to be a stressful but enjoyable position. I'll be getting paid making necessary arrangements to make more Ford truck parts available to you all through the LMC catalogs. I still have a ways to go, but it's my understand that the powers-that-be at LMC are serious about making the necessary investments towards getting additional Ford truck products manufactured...so it'll be up to me to make it happen, and I'm gonna try like hell! It won't be happening overnight, as making arrangements for new tooling for non-existent products is fairly time-consuming...but it's definitely coming.

[MAK]

Glad to hear it’s going well for you!

[cstoyer]

I know I'm a bit late to the party, but congrats. Fun work is not work at all

CStoyer

[Mancar1]

Just want to say , how great life can be.
There is positive in everything, just hard as heck to find it sometimes
Congrats, sounds like it is going great for you, and your wife.

[DuckRyder]

Hows it going at the new digs and job?

[sargentrs]

Inquiring minds wanna know! Is it your dream job like you hoped? LMC's gotta join the forum!