Job Cuts as Ford Boss Changes Gear

[maccamom]

Here's hoping they leave the production line employees alone for once instead of punishing them for mistakes made above.


Job Cuts as Ford Boss Changes Gear (The Age)

ONE of the first things new Ford Australia president Marin Burela will have to do is cut employment numbers at the struggling car maker.

While he is confident that the production line cuts announced a month ago — which will take effect in November and December — are the right size, the rest of the organisation will also have to be reduced, he said at the Sydney Motor Show.

The situation is similar to that facing Ford's parent company in the US, where slumping domestic sales have forced a restructuring of operations.

Ford Australia, which has lost money in the past two financial years, cannot expect much support from the US, as the parent company and its main US rival General Motors have been engulfed by the financial crisis.

Citigroup listed both companies as a "sell" because an increasing number of potential car buyers were finding it impossible to raise finance.

Ford's shares dropped 8.9% to their lowest price since 1983 while GM's shares slumped to a 56-year low.

Mr Burela was not underestimating the challenges he was facing in Australia, but he was optimistic.

"We need to be ahead of the game in terms of making sure we right-size our capacity in terms of demand for locally produced cars," he said in reference to the plan to cut output 25% and reduce the workforce by 350 people.

But he said the company had also been studying what that would mean for the rest of the workforce.

"We are going to be rebalancing over the next couple of months," he said. "We need to be realistic about where we are and where we're heading."

But cutting the staff is only one aspect of the challenge. Mr Burela and his recently appointed sales and marketing director, Beth Donovan, are going to have to persuade Australians that Ford is not just a large-car company.

"In Australia, we have seen a seismic shift in the industry," he said. "It used to be a large-car nation but now a whole rainbow of products are required."

He said Ford was well positioned as far as product went, but not enough customers knew it yet.

"Our line-up includes the new Fiesta, the Focus and the Mondeo," he said. "It's second to none.

"The challenge for us … is to communicate to the Australian consumer that we are just as relevant in the small-car business as we have been in large cars."

The new Ford Focus advertising devised under the guidance of Ms Donovan has moved a long way from the soft approach of the past. The ad compares Focus with a series of rivals and claims advantages in several areas.

"We have nothing to apologise for," she said.

"The ad says here's our product, here's where the leaders are in the segment and here's how we stand up to them.

"We need to build the brand. We don't need to be apologetic."

[Cobra]

It was always going to happen. Let's just hope his newly appointed chick Beth Donovan can be a bit more creative in marketing.

[geckoGT]

They need to forget about Holden and the large car market, it is not where the money is. They need to "focus" (pun intended) on the real money in the market which is the realm of Mazda, Toyota, and Mitsubishi et al. They actually have a class leader in focus and mondeo but it is horribly under exploited because they have been trying too hard in the large car market for too long.

The habits of the buying public has been shifting to smaller cars for the last 5-10 years, Ford and Holden failed to recognise this and instead of changing with the times, they are now in damage control. Meanwhile the competition, such as Mazda with the 3 range are laughing at them. Mazda are not even focussing on the 6 as it is larger than the most popular class according to the Australian buying public.

In fact, I would be as adventurous enough to say that if there was one manufacturer that Ford should take business lessons from, it is Mazda. They have a line up that is better geared to take on the next decade, better build quality, better after sales service, a distinctive corporate shape to the cars and most of all advertising that is remembered, zoom zoom! What is fords, I can not remember?

[Quicksand]

Originally Posted by maccamom

"We need to build the brand. We don't need to be apologetic."

I like this sentence; very well said and hopefully it will translate into some action!

[devilcv8]

Originally Posted by maccamom

— are the right size,

right size, last time I heard those words were in Telstra, just before another round of redundancies.
Some overpriced consultant realised that "downsizing" has negative connotations, so "right sizing" was invented.

[irlewy86]

Originally Posted by devilcv8

right size, last time I heard those words were in Telstra, just before another round of redundancies.
Some overpriced consultant realised that "downsizing" has negative connotations, so "right sizing" was invented.

You know you've got problems when your using a euphemism of a euphemism. The ultimate in double speak.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by geckoGT

They need to forget about Holden and the large car market, it is not where the money is. They need to "focus" (pun intended) on the real money in the market which is the realm of Mazda, Toyota, and Mitsubishi et al. They actually have a class leader in focus and mondeo but it is horribly under exploited because they have been trying too hard in the large car market for too long.

The habits of the buying public has been shifting to smaller cars for the last 5-10 years, Ford and Holden failed to recognise this and instead of changing with the times, they are now in damage control. Meanwhile the competition, such as Mazda with the 3 range are laughing at them. Mazda are not even focussing on the 6 as it is larger than the most popular class according to the Australian buying public.

In fact, I would be as adventurous enough to say that if there was one manufacturer that Ford should take business lessons from, it is Mazda. They have a line up that is better geared to take on the next decade, better build quality, better after sales service, a distinctive corporate shape to the cars and most of all advertising that is remembered, zoom zoom! What is fords, I can not remember?

Its a shame we dont have the LV Focus yet in the rest of the range..

The focus really isnt a class leader, the south african models can be real dogs, build quality is no where!

[Elks]

Originally Posted by geckoGT

They need to forget about Holden and the large car market, it is not where the money is. ......

......In fact, I would be as adventurous enough to say that if there was one manufacturer that Ford should take business lessons from, it is Mazda. They have a line up that is better geared to take on the next decade, better build quality, better after sales service, a distinctive corporate shape to the cars and most of all advertising that is remembered, zoom zoom! What is fords, I can not remember?

Again perception over reality. Correct me if I'm mistaken but I am quite sure that the Cortina's in the 60's, Escorts in the 70's and Laser's in the 80' & 90's were all quite popular cars in their day. It is only a recent phenomenon that Ford Motor Company has become the Falcon Motor Company.

Your comments about Mazda and the "Zoom Zoom" in particular are 100% correct.

Isn't "Going Fords the going thing" still the current slogan?

[Bossxr8]

I hate how they say they must focus on the small and medium cars, when the bread and butter of Ford Australia is the Falcon and Territory. Get them right and the sales of all the other stuff can take care of itself. They can't make money if Falcon and Territory don't sell, its as simple as that. They need to improve sales on EVERY model in the range, not just small cars and not just large cars.


Ford are slashing jobs from everywhere, they company will soon be just a shell as sections are being shut down and the work outsourced to outside suppliers. Its been going on for a couple of years now and has gone into hyper drive lately. There are more areas on the chopping block so expect more cuts in the future.

A scary fact. Ford employee numbers have more than halved over the last 3 years, with more to come.

[220XR8]

The problem is very few are buying the Falcon, 99.9% of the HARDCORE Ford supporters here are driving older cars. If you want to save them YOU have to buy them. Pointless having a wishing list then not buying whats delivered.

Me included in these comments

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

I hate how they say they must focus on the small and medium cars, when the bread and butter of Ford Australia is the Falcon and Territory. Get them right and the sales of all the other stuff can take care of itself. They can't make money if Falcon and Territory don't sell, its as simple as that. They need to improve sales on EVERY model in the range, not just small cars and not just large cars.


Ford are slashing jobs from everywhere, they company will soon be just a shell as sections are being shut down and the work outsourced to outside suppliers. Its been going on for a couple of years now and has gone into hyper drive lately. There are more areas on the chopping block so expect more cuts in the future.

A scary fact. Ford employee numbers have more than halved over the last 3 years, with more to come.

How can you say that?? Big car sales are down, Holdens feeling the pinch as well, but has a big Export program to fill in their slow days, most of which they arent profiting from neways!

Ford definately needs to focus in other areas, but the falcon should nto be outsold by the commodore at any cost!

[Wretched]

Ford need to quit living in the past and get with the times, big cars are on the nose. The Australian market has changed, we like a variety of cars. The smaller Focus/Corolla/3/Astra are not small anymore and can do the job for a lot less. Their smaller cars are decent and they should be out there telling people. Get out there and show people the product, people don't always have the time to sit and watch TV. Find out the target market for each vehicle and product place it, i.e. get a Focus, Fiesta and Mondeo to the large shopping centres Thu - Sun, have them open so people can get in and have a good look while they're doing their shopping. During social events, charity events and the likes get the cars out there and have people drive them, get them familiar with them.


Personally I would like to see Ford worldwide recover to become a decent market leader once again. If that includes cleaning out the cupboards of all the deadwood then so be it. They need to make the changes now or there won't be a company any time soon. More importantly Ford needs to be more flexible with its products, read the market, have the ability to chop and change cars on the production floor (I remember reading Toyota has the ability to swap between making Camry's to large trucks in the US with only a week turnaround).

[minheim]

Wretched, I think you are on the money about getting cars into the shopping centres so people can see and touch the product. You should post that to Ford. Maybe they could do a deal with some of the charities that sell tickets at shopping centres and get a tax writeoff for the gift of a car and use the opportunity to promote the local dealerships at the same time.

[Ghiadude]

Originally Posted by minheim

Wretched, I think you are on the money about getting cars into the shopping centres so people can see and touch the product. You should post that to Ford. Maybe they could do a deal with some of the charities that sell tickets at shopping centres and get a tax writeoff for the gift of a car and use the opportunity to promote the local dealerships at the same time.

agreed i think thats a very good idea.... think of all the stocks of dealer demos that arent being seen tucked away at dealerships, waste of space really.