The Saline Reporter
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A Ford man from back end to front
Retired Ford Motor Co. engineer takes on new position in car sales
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 22, 2007
Bob Kwiecinski retired from Ford Motor Co. Feb. 28 after almost 18 years as a product design engineer. As it turned out, it was also the last day for thousands of other salaried employees who left Ford as part of a buyout plan the automaker offered.
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Kwiecinski refers to the day as Black Wednesday.
"It was a tough day," he said.
The local resident wasted little time in moving on, however. The following morning, he began a new career as a car salesman at Briarwood Ford in Saline.
"My friends said, 'From an engineer to selling cars!'" said Kwiecinski, who had received job offers from some electronic firms. "But I figured if I'm going to be semi-retired, I want to do something different."
Kwiecinski, 59, spent his time at Ford pioneering backup aid technology, designing a reverse sensing system for vehicles such as the 1999 Windstar minivan. The system used signals from both sonar and radar sensors in the rear bumper to detect moving and stationary obstacles up to 20 feet behind the vehicle. The first all-radar backup aid was launched this year on the Ford Towncar.
It's ironic then that Kwiecinski's first car sale last week should be to Michael Westhoff, a Ford employee who took a buyout and left the company the same day Kwiecinski did. Westhoff worked as a bumper supervisor.
"My sensors had to be packaged inside his bumpers," Kwiecinski said.
Westhoff bought a used 2004 Ford Ranger. It's the first of what Kwiecinski hopes are many sales signaling a turnaround in Ford's fortunes.
Kwiecinski said he is optimistic about his former company's future.
"Ford will be back," he said. "I'm very confident people will like the new products. I believe Ford has the right mix of product coming up."
Kwiecinski is prone to thinking positively. He has a plaque engraved with one of his mottos: "Sometimes ya gotta go backward to move forward."
"Setbacks are going to happen," he said. "You just have to keep going."
The plaque is among dozens that Kwiecinski has been given over the years for his work with Ford, the Boy Scouts of America, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. In 2004, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Saline Salutes.
"I get deep into anything I get involved in," he said. "I go full bore."
It's how he plans to tackle his new career selling the cars he once helped design.
"If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it," he said. "I just love working with people. My day is a joy."
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