Julie McNamara
22Apr08
ANOTHER 74 jobs will be slashed at Ford Australia's Geelong plant in September.
After announcing in July that it would axe 600 Geelong jobs by closing its engine plant in 2010, the motoring giant has now conceded it will also strip jobs from its stamping plant.
The jobs will be outsourced to Australian suppliers, including a Geelong firm, in a bid to cut costs.
Ford public affairs manager Sinead McAlary said as many employees as possible would be retained and placed in other jobs within the company.
Ms McAlary said Ford met with employees and union officials late last week to advise them it would outsource Press Segment 4 at the Geelong stamping plant.
More than 300 different metal parts for the Ford Falcon and Territory are made in Press Segment 4.
Ms McAlary said the decision to outsource the work was made for the following reasons:
TO simplify the press business in line with competitive practice
TO concentrate on core stamping lines; and,
TO prepare for work on the new Focus.
Ms McAlary said the company's first aim was to find other jobs for the 74 workers.
She said the business would be outsourced to, including Geelong-based Backwell IXL, as well as Ai Automotive, Precision and Diver.
AMWU vehicle division state secretary Paul Difelice said the union had not yet conceded the jobs were lost.
He said employees wanted a say in whether operations could continue in Geelong on a reduced budget.
The union's vehicle division national secretary Ian Jones said the job loss would be another "massive blow" for the Geelong region.
Mr Jones said the union would do all it could to preserve the Geelong jobs.
"I think it's fair to say we have had a long association with Geelong and the Geelong community through the union, and we are going to be doing everything we can with the state and federal governments, and in negotiations with Ford, to try to maximise job opportunities within the region," he said.
"These discussions are a long way from being over."
The AMWU said about 350 people were now employed in the stamping plant.
A distressed employee told the Geelong Advertiser he and his workmates were notified of the planned job cuts last Thursday.
"People are just gobsmacked," he said.
He was under the impression employees who lost jobs at Ford would be offered jobs at the companies the work was outsourced to.
But Ms McAlary said this would not be the case.
"Some of the jobs are going to go to IXL Blackwell in Geelong, and some are going to Melbourne and Adelaide. The big thing is what is going to happen to the people who don't want to go?," she said.
The employee said workers were told they could take a voluntary separation package, which included 3.1 weeks of pay for every year they had worked at the company, as well as loyalty payments.
http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2008/04/22/13285_news.html
Campbellfield Ford plant a focus of car review
Hume Leader - 07Apr08
THE current review of Australia's automotive industry will be a "defining moment for Hume", says Calwell federal Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou.
THE current review of Australia's automotive industry will be a "defining moment for Hume", says Calwell federal Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou.
The Federal Government's review will consider the future of taxpayer-funded assistance, government support for hybrid cars and a possible tariff freeze.
Tariffs are presently scheduled to fall from 10 per cent to 5 per cent in 2010.
The review could have major ramifications for Ford's Campbellfield plant and car parts suppliers based in Hume.
Ms Vamvakinou, who chairs the House of Representative's Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation, said: "The review will be very important to us in terms of local employment.
You don't have to be Einstein to see how big a hole it would leave in Calwell if Ford wasn't here."
Ms Vamvakinou would not say if she supported a tariff freeze or more Government funding.
"I will form my views in terms of what comes out of the review," she said. Australian Manufacturers' Workers Union vehicle division national secretary Ian Jones said the nation's car industry was being pounded by a "convergence of forces".
The strong Australia dollar and a "flood" of cheap imports were the key challenges facing the industry, he told the Leader.
On scheduled tariffs reductions, he said: "Do we really need to further expose our industry when the rest of the world is going the other way?"
Ms Vamvakinou urged people in the industry to make a submission to the review.
* Public submissions close on May 14. A report will be presented to the Federal Government by July 31.
THE current review of Australia's automotive industry will be a "defining moment for Hume", says Calwell federal Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou.
THE current review of Australia's automotive industry will be a "defining moment for Hume", says Calwell federal Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou.
The Federal Government's review will consider the future of taxpayer-funded assistance, government support for hybrid cars and a possible tariff freeze.
Tariffs are presently scheduled to fall from 10 per cent to 5 per cent in 2010.
The review could have major ramifications for Ford's Campbellfield plant and car parts suppliers based in Hume.
Ms Vamvakinou, who chairs the House of Representative's Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation, said: "The review will be very important to us in terms of local employment.
You don't have to be Einstein to see how big a hole it would leave in Calwell if Ford wasn't here."
Ms Vamvakinou would not say if she supported a tariff freeze or more Government funding.
"I will form my views in terms of what comes out of the review," she said. Australian Manufacturers' Workers Union vehicle division national secretary Ian Jones said the nation's car industry was being pounded by a "convergence of forces".
The strong Australia dollar and a "flood" of cheap imports were the key challenges facing the industry, he told the Leader.
On scheduled tariffs reductions, he said: "Do we really need to further expose our industry when the rest of the world is going the other way?"
Ms Vamvakinou urged people in the industry to make a submission to the review.
* Public submissions close on May 14. A report will be presented to the Federal Government by July 31.
Global Rear Drive: The Turf War Begins
Posted March 25 2008 05:58 PM by Mike Connor
Filed under: Manufacturing, Ford, Exotics
Don’t believe what you read, say Ford Australia insiders -- the company’s global rear-drive program is still not a done deal. The Aussies insist there has been no decision to even proceed with the platform, much less who will lead the development program. They say stories suggesting the global rear-drive platform would be developed in North America are not correct.
However those comments, made by senior Ford Australia executives within the past 24 hours, are at odds with remarks made by Ford’s global head of product development, Derrick Kuzak, who told The Detroit News last Friday: “On rear-drive, as we have already stated, we are working on a new platform and portfolio of vehicles.”
Maybe these are the opening salvos of what could be a bitter turf war.
The Australians are fiercely protective of their engineering capability, which has been focused on the rear-drive Falcon since 1960. Having gradually evolved the Falcon from a locally manufactured version of an American design to a unique, all-Australian vehicle family, they believe they have shown they can deliver a superior product at a lower cost than do their counterparts in Dearborn. They point to the debacle of the DEW98 platform, which turned out too expensive to use under the current-generation Mustang.
In the past, Ford Australia has been able to fight off attempts by head office to align its product offerings with North America by demonstrating that local buyers demanded the unique attributes of the Falcon. The failed attempt by Dearborn in the mid-'90s to introduce the previous generation Taurus to Australia -- a car with less performance, worse handling, and less interior room (despite its front-drive layout) than the Falcon of the time -- seemed the prove the point.
However, high gas prices, which have hurt Falcon sales (Australians now pay the equivalent of $4.80 a gallon), plus Ford’s failure to establish an export program for the Falcon along the lines of the deal GM set up for Holden’s Zeta cars (sold in Europe, South America, and Asia) mean Ford Australia doesn’t have the sales volume to pay for another go-it-alone development program for an all-new Falcon platform. It needs the broader cost base of the global rear-drive platform -- which would also underpin the next-gen Mustang -- to make a new Falcon feasible.
Two other factors have further weakened the Aussies’ bargaining power. First, the collapse of the U.S. dollar means Australia is not as cheap a source of design, engineering, and development labor as it used to be, so there may not necessarily be significant cost savings in having Ford Australia lead the global rear-drive development program.
What’s more, the free-trade agreement signed between Australia and the U.S. in 2004 means U.S.-made cars can now be shipped to Australia without attracting the 10-percent duty applied to imports from other countries. That could make Ford Australia’s nightmare scenario a reality: Not only is the next Falcon effectively developed in America. It’s made in America, too.
http://blogs.motortrend.com/6238842/manufacturing/global-rear-drive-the-turf-war-begins/index.html
Filed under: Manufacturing, Ford, Exotics
Don’t believe what you read, say Ford Australia insiders -- the company’s global rear-drive program is still not a done deal. The Aussies insist there has been no decision to even proceed with the platform, much less who will lead the development program. They say stories suggesting the global rear-drive platform would be developed in North America are not correct.
However those comments, made by senior Ford Australia executives within the past 24 hours, are at odds with remarks made by Ford’s global head of product development, Derrick Kuzak, who told The Detroit News last Friday: “On rear-drive, as we have already stated, we are working on a new platform and portfolio of vehicles.”
Maybe these are the opening salvos of what could be a bitter turf war.
The Australians are fiercely protective of their engineering capability, which has been focused on the rear-drive Falcon since 1960. Having gradually evolved the Falcon from a locally manufactured version of an American design to a unique, all-Australian vehicle family, they believe they have shown they can deliver a superior product at a lower cost than do their counterparts in Dearborn. They point to the debacle of the DEW98 platform, which turned out too expensive to use under the current-generation Mustang.
In the past, Ford Australia has been able to fight off attempts by head office to align its product offerings with North America by demonstrating that local buyers demanded the unique attributes of the Falcon. The failed attempt by Dearborn in the mid-'90s to introduce the previous generation Taurus to Australia -- a car with less performance, worse handling, and less interior room (despite its front-drive layout) than the Falcon of the time -- seemed the prove the point.
However, high gas prices, which have hurt Falcon sales (Australians now pay the equivalent of $4.80 a gallon), plus Ford’s failure to establish an export program for the Falcon along the lines of the deal GM set up for Holden’s Zeta cars (sold in Europe, South America, and Asia) mean Ford Australia doesn’t have the sales volume to pay for another go-it-alone development program for an all-new Falcon platform. It needs the broader cost base of the global rear-drive platform -- which would also underpin the next-gen Mustang -- to make a new Falcon feasible.
Two other factors have further weakened the Aussies’ bargaining power. First, the collapse of the U.S. dollar means Australia is not as cheap a source of design, engineering, and development labor as it used to be, so there may not necessarily be significant cost savings in having Ford Australia lead the global rear-drive development program.
What’s more, the free-trade agreement signed between Australia and the U.S. in 2004 means U.S.-made cars can now be shipped to Australia without attracting the 10-percent duty applied to imports from other countries. That could make Ford Australia’s nightmare scenario a reality: Not only is the next Falcon effectively developed in America. It’s made in America, too.
http://blogs.motortrend.com/6238842/manufacturing/global-rear-drive-the-turf-war-begins/index.html
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