Ford adds brain to truck brawn

Taylor -- For years, the battle in commercial truck sales focused on brawn.

Now, as many commercial truck customers look for smarter ways to do business, Ford Motor Co.'s focus is turning toward brains.

The Dearborn automaker's new Ford Work Solutions system is rolling out to dealerships this spring on four vehicles targeted for the commercial customers, including the iconic F-150 and Super Duty trucks as well as the company's E-Series work van; it also will be available on the European-designed 2010 Transit Connect van when it arrives on U.S. soil this summer. The optional system combines four features: an in-dash computer with high-speed Internet access, a system to lock down valuable tools in the truck bed, a fleet management system and an equipment inventory tracking device that can alert a driver if they're missing a critical tool -- say a hammer drill or router -- before leaving for a work site.

By bringing to market the first integrated, Web-enabled suite of work solutions, Ford is hoping core business customers -- think construction crews, plumbers, etc. -- will be willing to shell out a few thousand dollars for built-in gadgetry that promises to make running businesses more efficient.

"We spent countless days following around many typical Ford commercial truck customers to see what problems they were having with their businesses and worked on solutions that could be built onboard," said Ed Pleets, product and business development manager for Ford Work Solutions. "We found that by partnering with the right firms, we could add these features at a reasonable cost in vehicles that normally wouldn't have them."

The F-150 used for a Thursday demonstration of the system showed the dichotomy between the shell of a competitively priced, utilitarian truck and the high-tech options inside. The windows wound up and down manually, but the computer mounted where radio controls would normally sit can easily navigate Web sites via a standard Web browser, display PDF documents and print out invoices via an optional printer.

The basic in-dash computer system, which operates Microsoft's Windows CE platform, adds $1,195 to the cost of a truck, which is competitive considering setting up laptops in vehicles aftermarket can cost thousands more. The Tool Link system, which lets users keep track of work site must-haves via radio frequency tags that interact with the computer, starts at $1,220.

The system also opens up new markets for Sprint, the mobile phone and broadband provider that partnered with Ford to provide the Web access needed to make the system practical for businesses. Sprint charges $49.95 monthly for unlimited service to one truck; a plan that limits data usage to 25 megabytes a month costs $25 monthly.

That's welcome news for Sprint. The company has struggled to grow its own business, as the U.S. wireless phone market has become well saturated -- more than 85 percent of people in the United States have cell phones -- in recent years, said Sprint spokesman Rick Gumbleton.

The Work Solutions system has big potential in future incarnations, as well. The company showed off a concept last week outfitted with tweaked versions of Work Solutions for the family, including an in-dash computer that helps busy parents keep track of kids' sports equipment and correctly install a child seat.

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