Ford to shed 240 local jobs, cut production as demand slumps

[mr smith]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

I would invest in products to compete in segments were products sell well. Like the Kuga for starters.

Yup, products not made in OZ

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

How is the assembly plant out of date??

Have you been to Geelong or Broady, and any plant built in the last five years?

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by V8 6I

Reporter on C 9 News said they are not selling enough large cars like the FAIRLANE and the Territory.Where do they get their information from?

These are the same people that call wheel loaders "Bobcats".


....................


Its interesting that they didn't wait to see what Terri and LPi Falcon did to their sales. That doesn't make sense to me unless they know it is gonna so SFA.

I think a decision has been tentatively made and unless something big happens the Falcon and Terri won't get updated again.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by FG50T

Poor decisions like cutting the Wagon, Fairlane and XR8 is the reason. If they had these cars and had the brains to make them successful cars like they should be able to they wouldn't be in this position. There's still great demand for these cars everyday. I see a ton of WM Caprices, VE Sportwagons and VE SS.2's on the road.

They gave up when they cut the wagon and Fairlane imo.

Have a look at the Caprices sales figures and then tell me the Fairlane is a good idea.

Holden have already ditched Statesman and with sales under 200 a month Caprice is next. Fairlane was selling a bit better than that when it was ditched.

Come the next gen I doubt wether Holden will even bother with a local Caprice, maybe just the LHD export version.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by mr smith

Yup, products not made in OZ



Have you been to Geelong or Broady, and any plant built in the last five years?

Yes as a matter of fact I have. Broadmeadows Assembly doesnt look as big on the inside as it does from aerial shots. And I've seen plenty of video walkthroughs of Korean and Japanese plants which would be considered "new"

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Yes as a matter of fact I have. Broadmeadows Assembly doesnt look as big on the inside as it does from aerial shots. And I've seen plenty of video walkthroughs of Korean and Japanese plants which would be considered "new"

The problem with the plants here is the layout as its not as efficient as it could be if they were to build a new one. In terms of technology in the plant its actually pretty good.

[gokhan]

Originally Posted by johnny351

20% aint that much at work today (toyota) we found out their cutting production by 50%

Funny no one reported that in the news...

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by gokhan

Funny no one reported that in the news...

http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-new...414-1dfmx.html

There's also a dedicated thread on it.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by vztrt

The problem with the plants here is the layout as its not as efficient as it could be if they were to build a new one. In terms of technology in the plant its actually pretty good.

Exactly. So apart from being in an old building and taking up a lot of land, the assembly plant is quite modern and efficient. More robots doing more human stuff would obviously make it better and more on par with Japanese and Korean plants, but for the money FoA are given, it does a pretty good job.





Still beats me though how dud cars get past the barcode scanners at the side door and shipping gate after they've been flagged on the system

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Exactly. So apart from being in an old building and taking up a lot of land, the assembly plant is quite modern and efficient. More robots doing more human stuff would obviously make it better and more on par with Japanese and Korean plants, but for the money FoA are given, it does a pretty good job.

I dont think it makes a big difference if the factory is old if the technology and methods are world class, im sure some of the oldest factories around happen to be some of the best.

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by johnny351

20% aint that much at work today (toyota) we found out their cutting production by 50%

Different shortages. Toyota are short of parts, Ford are short of customers.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by DanielXR8

Different shortages. Toyota are short of parts, Falcon is short of customers.

Fixed it, Ford has been gaining market share.

[irlewy86]

Originally Posted by V8 6I

Reporter on C 9 News said they are not selling enough large cars like the FAIRLANE and the Territory.Where do they get their information from?

2007 apparently

[irlewy86]

Originally Posted by vztrt

These are the same people that call wheel loaders "Bobcats".


....................
.

Skid Steer's

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by irlewy86

Skid Steer's

Which is what a Bobcat is, but an actual wheel loader like a 950F or a WA500 etc. They were calling them Bobcats.....its bad enough people call skid steer loaders bobcats.

[GreenR]

Pity. Ford's fault more so then the market.

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by Brazen

I dont think it makes a big difference if the factory is old if the technology and methods are world class, im sure some of the oldest factories around happen to be some of the best.

I'm sure that is the case, but for whatever reason there are still to many faults occurring in cars. Reports of FGs with rust and the Territory's before them is unbelievable in this day and age. We are talking cars that are garaged and dont spend the day parked next to the sea. My EL Falcon had less rust then my two year old Territory did.

The harm to a brands reputation this causes is immense. So does the ball joints fiasco with Territory, diff issues with XR8 and FPV's etc, but Ford Australia managements answer was to live in denial while doing the same crap over and over. Same with the dealer network woes.

I suspect its all to do with money. So long as punters will put up with this stuff and buy the cars they will make it, but when they expect better, they sure aren't going to invest the money to resolve it.

Easier to shut it all down, scrap models and ultimately forget about the whole manufacturing setup in Australia. Next boat from the US is due when? Hey we are management, we still keep our jobs.

Dan

[mr smith]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Yes as a matter of fact I have. Broadmeadows Assembly doesnt look as big on the inside as it does from aerial shots. And I've seen plenty of video walkthroughs of Korean and Japanese plants which would be considered "new"

If the plant shut tommorrow, and you took someone off the street in, their first comment would be "how many years has it been shut?"
The plant has many issues that are costing money.
I do agree though that for the lack of money spent on the plant it produces a good product. I just dont believe it fits in with the One Ford plan.

[Resurrection]

This is the result from years of both poor product planning and poor marketing. The announcement does not surprise me. I hope EcoLPi sells bucket loads.

[rxj]

Originally Posted by Polyal

Well if you look at what has been given the chop over the past few years you can see why their market share has fallen...

Fairlane - this one I agree with actually, not much money in that for the effort you need to go into to make it look different from the Falcon. Id love to know how the Statesman/Caprice programs fared with return on investment...BUT..with the money saved from axing it more tech could have gone into the G series!

Wagon - even with updated mechanical it would have still turned over a few sales for little extra cost in integrating new drive trains

RTV - what happened there, why couldn't they carry over the chassis with FG drivetrains and body?

XR8 - dont even get me started on that, again a well engineered and balanced car but didn't deliver what the segment wanted. Its ok though, by the time they make a decision either way the current falcon will have 12 months left to run and they will wonder why they didn't make their money back..you could back a G8E/V8 option on other variants to spread costs.

Then you come to delayed programs....

LPI - well its damn close but should have been here start of the year if not last...haven't had LPG for a while when it took up such a large % of sales

Diesel - tell me again why this engine is not in the falcon sedan and ute? And why mules where running around in 2005 and it took until 2011 to get it in? Drivetrain programs when you dont even develop the engine should not take 6 years...and thats doesn't even include the time in which it was thought of before PD got their hands on it.

I4T - next year now? I actually think its a huge risk and LPG/Diesel offers better alternatives, but still, its going to be 12 months to late.

Ford have great cars, great tech and great people...but the decision making process is shyte to say the least.

IMO GRWD cant come soon enough before the Falcon name is completely tarnished.

Anyone who believes its purely the markets fault needs to take off the blue glasses. I love Ford, I really, do, but they make it very hard on themselves.

LPI and Diesel should do well, but FoA really needs to get their product forecasts in order, they only have another 4-5 years of this falcon left and its all going to be to late.

/****ed off rant

Holden certainly have their flaws, but they read the market and supply what the consumers want much better. People carry on that the sportwagon just steals from the sedan, well maybe a little, but maybe some sales could have easily gone to small/meduim hatch backs aswell? Thats just one example.

I agree with your comments.

I understand the XR8 was temporarily dropped to allow people to enter into the FPV market with the entry level FPV GS 315 Boss. But this has not worked. One of Ford dealers where I have purchased cars from previously mentioned they still have two new GS vehicles on the showroom from last year which they cannot sell. I believe this is due to poor Marketing by FPV.

With regards to interior technology FoA are so far behind... The Falcon in Australia should have similar features found in the Mondeo such as Blind Sport IS, Lane Departure Warning, Front Sensors, Adapative Cruise Control, USB ports etc.

Cheers,

rxj

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by DanielXR8

Easier to shut it all down, scrap models and ultimately forget about the whole manufacturing setup in Australia. Next boat from the US is due when? Hey we are management, we still keep our jobs.

Dan

While you don't actually know what goes on inside, a lot of the management who are directly responsible will be out of a job.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by mr smith

If the plant shut tommorrow, and you took someone off the street in, their first comment would be "how many years has it been shut?"
The plant has many issues that are costing money.
I do agree though that for the lack of money spent on the plant it produces a good product. I just dont believe it fits in with the One Ford plan.

Naturally these things are going to be more acute to us Ford nerds than the man in the street. But Ford has assembly plants all over the world, in some of the most obscure places (you should check out the Wiki page on it, its really quite astonishing) I just find it difficult to accept that they would close Broady before some of these factories in Woop-Woop land that have no exports or global expertise.

[irlewy86]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Which is what a Bobcat is, but an actual wheel loader like a 950F or a WA500 etc. They were calling them Bobcats.....its bad enough people call skid steer loaders bobcats.

Hahahah who calls a WA500 a bobcat. Like calling a haul truck a ute.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by irlewy86

Hahahah who calls a WA500 a bobcat. Like calling a haul truck a ute.

I kept hearing it over and over again during the QLD floods and it had me confused. lol

[Ford17]

Makes you wonder how much longer Ford can justify throwing millions of dollars a year at FPR (for minimal return); and at local motorsport at large.

[JG34JA]

Originally Posted by Polyal

Oh and dropping the wagon as DASH mentioned was really stupid..even if they kept the sheet metal it still sold. I see countless numbers of Telstra wagons about, headlights ablaze and its bum dragging on the ground.

If Fords wagon was one of the toughest, it will be interesting to see how the others handle the work load.

I would imagine a LPI ZF wagon would have been rather popular.

+1. I remember when the wagon was dropped one takeaway comment was "it will free up 800 volume for the sedan each month". I'd love to see an LPI Falcon wagon.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by JG34JA

+1. I remember when the wagon was dropped one takeaway comment was "it will free up 800 volume for the sedan each month". I'd love to see an LPI Falcon wagon.

If the wagon was selling 800 a month it would never have gone.

That comment was made when they were working 6 days a week and overtime as they couldn't supply enough with usual production.

[P6LTD351]

Originally Posted by Forda

Makes you wonder how much longer Ford can justify throwing millions of dollars a year at FPR (for minimal return); and at local motorsport at large.

It actually make you wonder how long Ford will be manufacturing cars in this country.

Where are all those people with their rose coloured glasses? You know, the ones that said that even though Holden were selling heaps of Commodores, they were losing on each car? B**lsh**t. They've made a profit. What can we hang our hat on now? Falcon is in trouble. We all know it. It has Mitsubishi written all over it.

[Resurrection]

Can I take the blue pill instead? This reality where Ford is struggling sucks.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by eb2monty

It actually make you wonder how long Ford will be manufacturing cars in this country.

Where are all those people with their rose coloured glasses? You know, the ones that said that even though Holden were selling heaps of Commodores, they were losing on each car? B**lsh**t. They've made a profit. What can we hang our hat on now? Falcon is in trouble. We all know it. It has Mitsubishi written all over it.

You mean 1 profit in 5 years? Wow!!

[P6LTD351]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

Can I take the blue pill instead? This reality where Ford is struggling sucks.

Sure does. I'm hoping to wake up and find that the Falcon is doing 3000 per month. Surely that's not too much to ask for?