Donald N. Frey
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Donald N. Frey (1923 in St. Louis, Missouri in United States) is an innovator in manufacturing and information systems. He is best known as a Ford Motor Company product manager where he supervised the development of the Mustang car in a record 18 months.[1]
[edit] Early life
Frey grew up in Iowa. He finished Bethel High School (Ohio). In 1940, he began engineering school at Michigan State College. During World War II Frey he served as an officer in the United States Army (1942-1946). He returned to his studies, this time at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He completed a BS in MTL (1947), MSE (1949), and a Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering (1951). During his doctoral studies he was an Assistant Professor.
[edit] Career
He started working for Ford in 1950 and was appointed as Vice-President and Chief Engineer in 1964. He was responsible for many projects at the company as well as industrial innovations. The prototype styling of the Ford Mustang was designed by him. He was then placed in charge of the development of the production version of the car. He was later involved in the development of the Ford Bronco.
In 1967, he received an honorary degree a Doctorate in Engineering from the University of Michigan. He was very concerned that the U.S. is losing the 'global race' because there is little interest in investments for innovation and thus an increasing "gap".[2]
He resigned from the automaker in 1968 to become the president of General Cable.[3] Environmental issues became his focus and he established new copper recycling methods. In 1971, he was appointed chairman and CEO of Bell & Howell. He was also made a board of directors member at 20th Century Fox. He helped bring about the first high-volume integrated manufacture of video cassettes for the movie industry. He was also instrumental in promoting the first successful CD-ROM based information system. It was designed for General Motors dealer service.
He retired from industry in 1988.
[edit] Awards and teaching
In 1990, he received the National Medal of Technology [4] in a White House ceremony.
He is a researcher and professor at Northwestern University [5] in the Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences (IE/MS) Department.[6]
He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Stonewater Control Systems.[7]
[edit] Notes
- ^ "The Thinker (Detroit Style)" Time Magazine, Apr. 21, 1967, Retrieved on: July 27, 2007.
- ^ Donald N. Frey, "U.S. is losing 'global race': we think for Japanese, then they beat our brains out", Ward's Auto World, March 1989, Retrieved on: July 27, 2007.
- ^ Company web page, Retrieved on: July 27, 2007.
- ^ National Medal of Technology page on Frey, Retrieved on: July 27, 2007.
- ^ Sean Hargadon, "The Man Behind the Mustang" Northwestern Magazine, Fall 2004, Retrieved on: July 27, 2007.
- ^ Faculty page at Northwestern, Retrieved on: July 27, 2007.
- ^ List of company Board of Directors, Retrieved on: July 27, 2007.
