Holden axes 320 jobs, confirms Oct 7 Cruze production end

[Sprint XR8]

Holden has confirmed it will end production of the locally-made Cruze small car on October 7 — the same day Ford will shut the Falcon factory in Broadmeadows.

But while the lights will be switched off forever at Ford's facility, Holden will keep building the Commodore for one more year before its factory closure.

The end of Cruze production means 320 jobs will be axed, leaving about 1000 workers on the assembly line in Elizabeth, South Australia.

Holden employees were informed of the date and the job cuts at the end of shift on Friday.

The end of Cruze production means Holden will scale down to building 165 cars per day, instead of the current rate of 240 cars per day.

A statement from Holden said there is "absolutely no change" to Holden's plan to continue building Commodore at Elizabeth until the end of 2017.

"Holden's key priority at all times is to support our people and to manage this scheduled wind-down of manufacturing in a way that treats our employees with respect and dignity," the Holden statement said.

"All Holden employees have counselling services available to them, as well as career coaching, training and job searching assistance."

Meanwhile, the 200 workers at Holden's engine factory in Port Melbourne are expected to be out of a job by the end of this year, when the V6 plant closes.

Holden will stockpile engines to be fitted to the Commodore in its final year of production.

In February Holden announced the Cruze would be replaced by the Astra hatchback, imported from the UK.

But this is the first time Holden has confirmed the exact date Cruze would go out of production, and the exact number of employees affected.

In an unusual coincidence, October 7 is the Friday before Australia's greatest motor race, the Bathurst 1000, an event which over the decades helped establish the reputations of both Holden and Ford.

http://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news...tion-end-43439

[Lukeyson]

This will start to remind people (outside of the car fans) that our auto manufacturing industry in Australia is about to end, and that it hasn't happened yet.
At work and other people i deal with that aren't into cars like myself, thought Ford and Holden stopped making cars here years ago. Little do they know we are yet to see the worst of how its going to affect so many people and their families who work in those industries.

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by Lukeyson

This will start to remind people (outside of the car fans) that our auto manufacturing industry in Australia is about to end, and that it hasn't happened yet.
At work and other people i deal with that aren't into cars like myself, thought Ford and Holden stopped making cars here years ago. Little do they know we are yet to see the worst of how its going to affect so many people and their families who work in those industries.

You do realise that Australia is now making 1/3 of the cars it was making 12 years ago, and yet the unemployment rate is pretty much the same. When the Government isnt spending a great deal of money propping up inefficient sectors of the economy, more money can be allocated to productive sectors. If losing 2/3rds of our Auto industry doesnt cause huge effects, i would like you to explain how losing the other 1/3 would!! Maybe the other people you know just get on with life and dont believe in scare mongering.

[bangm001]

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

You do realise that Australia is now making 1/3 of the cars it was making 12 years ago, and yet the unemployment rate is pretty much the same. When the Government isnt spending a great deal of money propping up inefficient sectors of the economy, more money can be allocated to productive sectors. If losing 2/3rds of our Auto industry doesnt cause huge effects, i would like you to explain how losing the other 1/3 would!! Maybe the other people you know just get on with life and dont believe in scare mongering.

Are you a politician?

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by bangm001

Are you a politician?

Ignore him, every thread about manufacturing has bob and his BS unsubstantiated figures.
Troll

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by Bill M

Ignore him, every thread about manufacturing has bob and his BS unsubstantiated figures.
Troll

Ahhhh the last retort of someone who cant fire back. Sorry i didnt mean to say it is only my impression it was an unsustainable industry. I guess the same thought process goes thru the minds of the government, the heads of GM, the heads of Ford, the heads of Toyota. And for that matter also the heads of all other car manufacturers in the world that havent offered to set up a factory here. Not to mention the 93% of Australians who like buying imported cars each year.

You could throw all the money in the world at the problem, but Australias small population, distance from markets, high comparative wages etc, means we can never have a sustainable car manufacturing industry. And thats coming (not from a politician) from someone who runs an unsupported business, employing 5 hard working Australians.

[FalconXV]

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

You do realise that Australia is now making 1/3 of the cars it was making 12 years ago, and yet the unemployment rate is pretty much the same. When the Government isnt spending a great deal of money propping up inefficient sectors of the economy, more money can be allocated to productive sectors. If losing 2/3rds of our Auto industry doesnt cause huge effects, i would like you to explain how losing the other 1/3 would!! Maybe the other people you know just get on with life and dont believe in scare mongering.

Do you approach everything in life with a right-wing confirmation bias?
The 'propped-up' industry gave people jobs, returned investment into the economy an order of magnitude higher than the cost of govt. assistance. What a shame so many like you can't see past your media-driven myopia and see what a devastating and unncessary loss this is. Don't worry it will become apparent by 2018 when they shut and the component sector has collapsed. This would be fine if the government had some other advanced industry investment lined up but all they deliver is empty buzzwords (Jobs and growth, ideas boom) and class warfare.

[Express]

Originally Posted by Lukeyson

This will start to remind people (outside of the car fans) that our auto manufacturing industry in Australia is about to end, and that it hasn't happened yet.
At work and other people i deal with that aren't into cars like myself, thought Ford and Holden stopped making cars here years ago. Little do they know we are yet to see the worst of how its going to affect so many people and their families who work in those industries.

Sadly I don't think most people will care.

Aussie businesses keep closing without causing much of a ripple in most people's daily lives and therefore any news of this type is forgotten by tomorrow.

[outback_ute]

Bob I'm not sure that 2/3 of the jobs have been lost yet.

[XRtowcar]

Holden has confirmed it will end production of the locally-made Cruze small car on October 7 — the same day Ford will shut the Falcon factory in Broadmeadows.

Everything Ford do, Holden have to copy.

[FormulaFG]

Can someone answer me this, because I genuinely am interested......

That company has laid off soooo many workers in multiple waves in the last two years, yet it still manages to operate and put out vehicles. Were they over employing people?

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by FormulaFG

Can someone answer me this, because I genuinely am interested......

That company has laid off soooo many workers in multiple waves in the last two years, yet it still manages to operate and put out vehicles. Were they over employing people?

When you reduce numbersbod cars built the head count was reduced. Eg ford went from 550 cars a day in 2005 to 83 in 2014. But the reduction has been gradual. Then on top of that suppliers would be reducing heads to accommodate the reduction.

With Holden their engineering is pretty much gone as its not required anymore. Ford on the other hand has been increasing (as well as engineering support that were once suppliers) and moving people across and away from Falcon/Territory.

Ford shutting down wont really hurt in a grand scheme of things. The proplem will be when Holden and Toyota shut shop as the amount of people that will be out of a job will make it interesting.

[BLACKVE]

Originally Posted by FormulaFG

Can someone answer me this, because I genuinely am interested......

That company has laid off soooo many workers in multiple waves in the last two years, yet it still manages to operate and put out vehicles. Were they over employing people?

240 cars a day to 165.

with 3 shifts it was close to 600 cars a day, alouth the 6.2 V8s are selling well the yard at holdens is full atm

[castellan]

I wonder when, or if ford has shutdown the 6 cyl engine foundry.
I want to go have a look see, they should have an open day at the end, I am proud of what we once could achieve as Australians.

Australia will never make anything of that type of greatness again, as we become a backward 3rd world dumping ground.

[mik]

Originally Posted by BLACKVE

240 cars a day to 165.

with 3 shifts it was close to 600 cars a day, alouth the 6.2 V8s are selling well the yard at holdens is full atm

i can remember some years ago carting car parts for holden , they where pumping out 800 per day i was told and we where doing the runs accordingly, also 3 shifts 24/7 for a while.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by mik

i can remember some years ago carting car parts for holden , they where pumping out 800 per day i was told and we where doing the runs accordingly, also 3 shifts 24/7 for a while.

That still seems low for 3 shifts. Ford did 550 a day on one shift. At its peak they ran 7 days a week.

[simon varley]

Originally Posted by FormulaFG

Can someone answer me this, because I genuinely am interested......

That company has laid off soooo many workers in multiple waves in the last two years, yet it still manages to operate and put out vehicles. Were they over employing people?

if you halve the number of cars you put out, you halve the speed the line is running at. This means one person can do up 4 nuts instead of 2 nuts at his station so you can remove one of the workers. You can't half the workforce but you can come close.

[chevypower]

I see both sides of the coin on this one. It's sad to lose any private company, especially when they employ so many people. However if they need constant subsidies to stay alive, the jobs aren't because of the product sales, they are because of the tax payers. I think there's a way for government to work with these companies to entice them to stay. Like ensuring they are building a global vehicle, rather than a product in a declining segment made primarily for the domestic market. Instead of subsidies, the government should offer a competitive corporate tax rate, so they don't lose business to Thailand. This is what happens when the leftists get their way, and you drive up the costs of doing business. They think it will help the economy, but it actually hurts it. I think Thailand gets it.

[Gothefalcon]

There has to be some "advantage" for industry to stay here (or in any country). A perceived "advantage" can be manipulated by the Govco of the day. In the past... it was tariffs... which meant that the advantage gained by manufacturing here, was to avoid having large import duties slapped on your product... thus making your product more price attractive, over other fully imported products.

The problem with this, was that there was little incentive built in, to produce something that was competitive on anything other than price.

Now that we have virtually open borders... there is no "advantage" to manufacture here (perceived or otherwise).... so it's all going off-shore.

Business generally responds to financial advantage first... and worries about the rest after... so to keep manufacturing here, Govco needs to legislate another "advantage" in. Say... re-introduce a set of tariffs, which favour local content. The more local content, the less tariff applied.
Also... if a business can manufacture "X" amount of product here, which can be sold here or exported... Once the threshold levels are met, then other products of that business can come in tariff free,
The incentive for the business would then be to manufacture something competitive here, to be popular enough to sell in the sort of numbers that would mean they can bring in more of their other product tariff free... thus giving them a further "advantage".

Sure, no-one want to pay more for anything... and any tariff is just another tax us punters pay for in the end... but the reality is, wether it's in the form of tariffs, levies, business subsidies or unemployment benefits... us punters are paying them all anyway ! The difference is, some of these are a drag on the Country... and others can stimulate the local economy, so we all benefit in the long run.

BTW... not saying this is "the" answer... but what we've got now is not working in our favour, obviously... so something else needs to be considered !??

D

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by chevypower

I see both sides of the coin on this one. It's sad to lose any private company, especially when they employ so many people. However if they need constant subsidies to stay alive, the jobs aren't because of the product sales, they are because of the tax payers. I think there's a way for government to work with these companies to entice them to stay. Like ensuring they are building a global vehicle, rather than a product in a declining segment made primarily for the domestic market. Instead of subsidies, the government should offer a competitive corporate tax rate, so they don't lose business to Thailand. This is what happens when the leftists get their way, and you drive up the costs of doing business. They think it will help the economy, but it actually hurts it. I think Thailand gets it.

Time to shut down the auto industry then. If you think they're not getting money from the government then you havent looked into the industry. Thailand throws lots of money at the car makers so their country has jobs. On top of thay they have protection to make sure people buy local......then again the US is no better....especially for a country that preaches free trade.

[chevypower]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Time to shut down the auto industry then. If you think they're not getting money from the government then you havent looked into the industry. Thailand throws lots of money at the car makers so their country has jobs. On top of thay they have protection to make sure people buy local......then again the US is no better....especially for a country that preaches free trade.

Did I say they weren't getting money from the government? Japan also subsidizes its car manufacturers. Yes it's hard to compete with free trade in a global economy against countries who subsidize their companies. But with all the regulations and high costs, obviously Australia is no longer competitive globally in manufacturing. So current strategy is not working. If it was, you wouldn't have factories closing. By "the US" do you mean the US federal government or some people in the US? Because the Obama administration is far from preaching free trade. He is as bad as the rest of them.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by chevypower

By "the US" do you mean the US federal government or some people in the US? Because the Obama administration is far from preaching free trade. He is as bad as the rest of them

The us gov in general. They have been protecting their industries always (and not just automotive) but they push a free economy. Australia was never going to be able to sustain an automotive industry. For a multitude of reasons the numbers wern't sustainable. Cheaper manufacturing is a major factor that it didnt continue (be it something other then the unique cars australia have). But my point is there really isnt a car company out there that isnt running on government subsidies. At least the Australian system delivered a 300% return on its money....so that delieverd growth and jobs.

[mik]

I dont think we even needed to have an advantage to make cars here , all we needed was a level playing field and the powers that be to have the back bone to make sure we got it , alas ...........

[castellan]

Originally Posted by mik

I dont think we even needed to have an advantage to make cars here , all we needed was a level playing field and the powers that be to have the back bone to make sure we got it , alas ...........

But the fact is you will never get a level playing field it's a myth, a concept for the naïve.

You look after your own nation and States 1st and foremost, that's what governments are suppose to be all about, looking after the people who vote them in and that's what we can see with the whole history of Ford Australia how it all worked.( good book Ford Australia - the cars and the people who built them ) this book has just come out.

We could of been just a dumping ground for all makes of imported cars and had no manufactoring ability at all and been just a backward hick place that could not make a frying pan.

Australia was a backwards laughing stock till our Government got it's act together and GMH brought out that FX Holden and the other company's kicked in and got the ball rolling.

We could still have the ability to make cars now with the dollar as it is around 70c in the USA dollar and if we had a good Government and good bright Unions, but we don't have them two, as such they have sold our nation out, not to mention also a lot of ignorant people who want everything for nothing mentality and a moronic she will be right mentality.
The future will be up s creek without a paddle, following South Africa lead, just run by backward morons and the criminally insane.