Ford Motor Company confirmed Friday plans to reorganize its salaried workforce worldwide, flatten its business operations and create a more efficient company that results in fewer white-collar jobs overall.

The largest car manufacturing employer in America, Ford has more than 85,000 U.S. employees, and 201,000 globally, including an estimated 70,000 salaried workers.

No one can say yet how many jobs will be impacted.

“We need to dig into the process deeper before we know the absolutes,” said Mark Truby, vice president, global communications at Ford, in an interview with the Detroit Free Press. “What we’ve kicked off is a redesign of our global salaried workforce — in North America, Europe, Asia, South America. ... ”

The Dearborn-based automaker revealed the plan to employees Thursday, saying the entire team is part of an overall assessment to identify how the company can become stronger by limiting corporate bureaucracy and identifying weaknesses in all areas of business, from communications and finance to manufacturing and human resources.

Efficiency vs. head count

There was no mention of shutdowns or specific strategies. Truby said details are unfolding in coming months and announcements will come as decisions are made.

“At the highest level, this is really about changing the way we work,” said Kiersten Robinson, Ford group vice president and chief human resources officer.

“You’ve heard (CEO) Jim Hackett talk about fitness and how we need to be more responsive, innovative, agile. Given that, it’s really important when you consider how we modernize the workforce, skills and capabilities we need. Yesterday we shared with our global employees that we’re in the early stages of reorganizing the salaried workforce. This is designed to help us become more fit as a business.”

The process is not about cutting headcount as much as figuring out who is needed, what is needed and where resources must be devoted, she said.

“It’s just launched in the past day or so. The net result of this will be a much flatter organization, less hierarchical,” Robinson said.“By doing that, we’re going to change the way we work. This will allow us to make decisions faster and allow employees to have a much greater impact.”

The 115-year-old company wants to empower managers to have a “greater span of control,” Truby said. “Over time, we’ll have fewer layers, ultimately less people. The goal is to streamline the organization. It’s a cascading process. It will mean a reduction in workforce.”

Bottom line: Ford is kicking off a reorganization of its global salaried workforce to support the company’s strategy and objectives. The company will survey employees. Teams will be tighter and more autonomous.

“This is a process that’s very participatory. People will dig in and think about the organization and the resources needed," Truby said. “This process won’t be completed fully until the second quarter of next year. We’re going to go through various waves. We’re in the early stages.”

He continued: “There is not going to be one day where everything gets announced.” Between now and the second quarter of next year, as decisions get made with workforce reductions, we’ll announce them as they come.”

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Hackett said a year ago, during his 100 Day report to investors, that he planned to make the company “more fit.”

Ford employees were worrying in August 2018 about whether "fitness" would translate into job losses. The Times of London reported the money-losing European division faced significant cuts. And Moody's Investment Services even downgraded the Ford rating to just above junk status.

Wall Street watching

Analysts predict Wall Street will be thrilled by the latest news.

“A lot of people have expected these changes to happen sooner,” said Ivan Drury, senior manager of industry analysis at Edmunds. “The new CEO arrived almost a whole year and a half ago.”

Any business as traditional and established as Ford can likely use an overhaul, especially a company that has told the world about plans to cut car production and shift to SUV and truck products, he said. “If I worked on the Fusion or Focus, well, I would be afraid my job is at risk. If I’m working on the Lincoln Navigator, which is making a lot of profit, I don’t worry so much. But there is always an initial wave of fear, frustration, confusion. It can be positive in the end.”

Some industry observers wondered about the slow rollout of Ford's plan, which will continue until spring 2019.

“Talk about dragging things out and maximizing anxiety and agony for employees — I have never seen such a dragged-out process in all my years in the industry," said Jon Gabrielsen, a market economist who advises automakers and auto suppliers.

“This will absolutely hurt Ford by having no one do much of anything for as long as it lasts, and hurt local metro Detroit consumption as no one dare buy anything lest they lose their jobs," he said. "And that will not be limited to Ford employees. Any employee of any automaker or supplier and anyone working in support roles will also recognize they could be the next company to begin layoffs.”

However, the strategy depicted by Ford sounds like a surgical strike that Wall Street will see as a path to higher profits, analysts said.

Hackett, who spent 30 years in the furniture business, let go 12,000 employees during restructuring at Grand Rapids-based Steelcase and earned respect for his ability to transform business.

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: phoward@freepress.com or 313-222-6512. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid