Since joining Ford Motor Company in 2016, Scott Anderson has managed several design teams through the production design process for SUV/Truck interiors as part of Truck Studio Design Team Bronco Sport and Ford Maverick. He has led the team through human-centered design processes, starting from foundational customer research and building unique user experience content for interior design. In addition, Scott is an Adjunct Faculty in College for Creative Studies, mentoring and educating future transportation and vehicle designers, emphasizing on design as fine art and engineering integration, system-level thinking, sustainable design techniques, and project-based learning.
In an interview with Manufacturing Technology Insights, Scott Anderson, Interior Design Manager at Ford Motor Company, talks about the trends in automobile interior designing and how the new 2022 Ford Maverick will feature customization options leveraging 3D printing, supported by the new Ford Integrated Tether System (FITS).
What were the challenges you have faced in the manufacturing industry?
We had a lot of manufacturing challenges when we were into FITS (Ford Integrated Tether System). We were looking at leveraging advanced manufacturing, RP (rapid prototyping), and 3D printing to enable more flexibility in shaping geometry factors. It is an interesting premise because we first put on clay models and prototypes in the studio and got into intense negotiation with our engineering partners and PD teams to understand how to mold these into the plastic of the product part. Our console engineer helped us get through with parting line edges and simple designs that could be made to work in an injection molder with high volume capacity. It was all a fun process, though.
Could you elaborate on your journey within the manufacturing space?
It has been a long road. Over the years, I've seen a lot of changes in what I do in a job role. I started with an engineering background but went back to school in 2000 to become an industrial designer at College for Creative Studies (CCS). I worked with a few companies before joining Ford in 2016, working on projects like Broncos and now finally with Maverick as a designer. My engineering background has helped me back up my design knowledge. It has been particularly helpful on the Maverick program with a lot of design manufacturing reductions to bring down cost and enhance the value of the plastics in the interior. We have created a design that gives customers the flexible space to customize; making sure it is applicable for high-volume injection molding.
How did you come up with this idea?
We did a lot of research on our customer base during the early stages. One of the significant things we gathered through research is that customization according to users is making the vehicle their own. We started working on making things modular and plug and play to make things that people could change on their own.