Electrification has given rise to new American automotive ventures such as Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid Motors. Aside from the powertrain, these companies are innovating the driving experience through breakthrough performance and by deeply integrating software into vehicle architecture. These disruptions demonstrate exciting possibilities but raise a challenge: how can companies innovate while upholding customer expectations of quality? In an episode of the WLEI podcast, LEI sat down with industry veteran and Lucid Motors’ Vice President of Quality Jeri Ford to explore that question. Jeri has over 30 years of experience in the automotive industry, having held leadership roles at Ford and Rivian before joining Lucid. The conversation explores: How product development impacts quality downstream in manufacturing and supply chain. The importance of collaboration between functions to achieve quality objectives. Balancing speed and quality in bringing new vehicles to market. Adapting processes for the integration of software and hardware in modern vehicles. Building alignment and a culture of quality in a startup environment. Listen to gain these insights and learn about the challenges facing the automotive industry in an era of technological change. Be among the first to get the latest insights from LEI’s Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) thought leaders and practitioners. This article was delivered to subscribers of The Design Brief, LEI’s newsletter devoted to improving organizations’ innovation capability. It is the fourth of five in a series on quality entitled “Whatever Happened to Quality First? Rethinking Product Development the Wake of Recalls and Catastrophic Failures.” Click to read the first, second, and third articles.

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