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

[GavL]

In the latest blow to the local car making industry, Ford Australia is set to shed 240 factory workers’ jobs and cut production by 20 per cent from 260 to 209 vehicles a day from July.

Ford Australia president Bob Graziano told The Age this morning a slump in demand for large cars had forced the decision.

‘‘There’s been moves into different types of vehicles, SUVs (the light-duty off-roaders) or smaller cars,’’ he said.

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Unlike Holden and Toyota Australia, Ford Australia only makes large vehicles locally — the Falcon, Falcon ute and Territory — brutally exposing the enterprise to fuel price hikes and changing consumer tastes.

In the past decade, 107,000 fewer large cars are being bought by fleets and the general public a year, a sales decline of more than 50 per cent, he said.

‘‘There are customers who...made different choices for whatever reason,’’ Mr Graziano said. ‘‘It’s difficult to pinpoint one reason why people move to different types of vehicles.’’

Sales to government, corporate and rental-car fleets make up 65 to 70 per cent of Falcon sales.

‘‘Some of that could be buyer-policy related in companies, as they move to a lower carbon footprint,’’ he said.

It’s the biggest job-shedding exercise at Ford Australia since 2008, when it shed 800 jobs affecting the breadth of its operations.

The 240 jobs will be cut from July, and will bring Ford Australia’s manufacturing workforce from 1800 employees to 1560, and the total staff from 3400 to 3160.

‘‘We believe the actions we’re taking now will stabilise our [vehicle] volumes going forward,’’ Mr Graziano said.

The jobs of workers at both the Broadmeadows body factory and Geelong’s engine plant will be affected.

While the Broadmeadows assembly line will bear the brunt of the cuts, Mr Graziano said some jobs in the Geelong engine plant may disappear too, as fewer cars being made will reduce the number of engines that need to be made to power them.

Some Broadmeadows employees could be offered jobs at the Geelong casting plant, he said, as it has contracts as a cast-alloy component supplier to the other local manufacturers.

Those workers who won’t, or can’t, take up the limited places offered in Geelong’s casting plant will be given ‘‘voluntary’’ redundancy packages, he said.

Between now and July, Ford will idle some production days as the process to identify the exact number of people from which areas will be made redundant.

Jobs in Ford Australia’s management, engineering and design are not affected, a spokeswoman confirmed.

It’s the latest adjustment to staffing and production levels that has waxed and waned over the past few years.

After the 2008 downsizing and during the 2009 global financial crisis and the dealer financing turmoil, dealers ran down the number of cars sitting on their lots as dealers struggled to obtain industry finance.

As the economy emerged from the worst of the GFC, Ford ramped up production, including overtime shifts, to restock its dealers in the first half of 2010.

Come the second half, sales of large cars continued to decline. For the first three months of this year, large-car sales have declined another 1.5 per cent. and this year Ford has been idling some production days.

‘‘It’s really important we balance our production with market demand,’’ a spokeswoman said.

The management thought it better for for the business, employees and suppliers to make a production adjustment, rather than incur the disruption of intermittent idling of the assembly plant.

The job losses comes at time when Ford, after investing $232 million, including $42 million from the Federal Government’s Green Car Innovation Fund, is on the cusp of launching updated models.

Its second-generation Territory SUV, with a diesel engine option for the first time, is due in showrooms in a fortnight.

Ford has more economical versions of the Falcon and Falcon ute in the pipeline, too.

A liquid-injection LPG engine for Falcon and the ute will be launched in the third quarter of this year, while a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine for the Falcon sedan, dubbed EcoBoost, is due early next year.

Mr Graziano says the four-cylinder Falcon will offer 20 per cent better fuel economy and 15 per cent lower carbon dioxide emissions without degrading performance.

‘‘We’re focussing on sustainability...and providing fuel economy alternatives,’’ he said.

http://www.theage.com.au/business/fo...414-1df78.html

[stang65]

Very bad news......but for once it wasn`t written like every other drive article.

[Gobes32]

Is it really a shock? Julia is riding this countries economy all the way into the ground.......

[Smoke Pursuit]

Ummm the demand for large cars hasnt dropped Bob, you just can't anything over the line that people actually want..

Holden still sell plenty of Commodores, and Commodore utes!

You cannot put it all down to a dieing segment, you need to take some responsibility and start to get some **** happening with Falcon!! e.g. Gas, 4 cylinder and XR8. No point talking about it.

[Joe5619]

I try to stay postive, but how much more can they cut, before they say "lets just quit??"

[Polyal]

The segment is still there, otherwise BMW and Merc are spending some big bucks on a black hole....

I agree DASH, Ford have been to slow to react to what the market wants. All there products are great, well engineered etc but come too late.

Its one thing to be fashionably late, its another to be an annoying gate crasher.

What will be interesting, and I hold hope for it, is when LPG and the new tezza are back online and selling will these people be needed back?

[Wretched]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

Ummm the demand for large cars hasnt dropped Bob, you just can't anything over the line that people actually want..

Holden still sell plenty of Commodores, and Commodore utes!

You cannot put it all down to a dieing segment, you need to take some responsibility and start to get some **** happening with Falcon!! e.g. Gas, 4 cylinder and XR8. No point talking about it.

They may still top the charts in terms of sales but if you look at the data over the past decade, large car sales have dropped even with Holden having a bigger Commodore range (redline, Vseries, etc).

The segment won't disappear but Ford and Holden need to realise the change in market and move away from this being their bread and butter.

Holden have done this with the local production of the Cruze.
You only need to look at March sales figures for Ford, sales were up for the cars in their other segments.

Yes the LPG and I4T are missing, they may add some sales but no where near as many to justify Ford being a Falcon only company. They are good technologies but should have been here a long time ago. Too little too late and now they're paying for the incompetence shown. That's business.

The Falcon may be a good product but is it really what everyone wants/needs?

[Road_Warrior]

:-|

Uncool, but not surprising. Something had to give sooner or later with the levels of manufacturing throughput.

Hey, look on the bright side, at least they didn't say "well, this is no good, we're closing"

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Polyal

The segment is still there, otherwise BMW and Merc are spending some big bucks on a black hole....

I agree DASH, Ford have been to slow to react to what the market wants. All there products are great, well engineered etc but come too late.

Its one thing to be fashionably late, its another to be an annoying gate crasher.

What will be interesting, and I hold hope for it, is when LPG and the new tezza are back online and selling will these people be needed back?

Probably not, alot of fleet operators (who lets face it are the people who buy cars) have moved away from Ford over the last 12 months, either not being able to get what they use to (e.g. wagon / gas) or finding better alternatives. One of my mates whos a rep has had Falcon wagons for the last 10 years, hes now got a new Subaru Liberty wagon and has said that the company he works for are changing their entire fleet, not because they wanted to but because they had to... I was suprised they didn't go Mondeo diesels but he reckons there was a supply issues, so it was Subaru...

[Road_Warrior]

:(

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/mor...-1226039113907

"We've been investigating this for the last few months. We've been looking at the large car segment and where it's going," Ford spokesperson Sinead McAlary said.

[bmorris]

It is a big shame, but everyone here should of known this was coming. Falcon not selling so jobs go. Pretty simple.

Like was stated before, they really need to pick up on development times, so many great products just released way to late.

[The G6ET Spot]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

Probably not, alot of fleet operators (who lets face it are the people who buy cars) have moved away from Ford over the last 12 months, either not being able to get what they use to (e.g. wagon / gas) or finding better alternatives. One of my mates whos a rep has had Falcon wagons for the last 10 years, hes now got a new Subaru Liberty wagon and has said that the company he works for are changing their entire fleet, not because they wanted to but because they had to... I was suprised they didn't go Mondeo diesels but he reckons there was a supply issues, so it was Subaru...

That is the exact reason as to why the company I work for went from Fords to Hyundai I30 wagons(of all things). ford just couldn't supply them the vehicles they wanted when they wanted. Bit of a shame considering the national fleet is in excess of 1000 cars.

[Charliewool]

Looks like a fire sale on their steel stock also?
http://www.graysonline.com/sale/5701...le%2bCatalogue

[Wretched]

Originally Posted by Charliewool

Looks like a fire sale on their steel stock also?
http://www.graysonline.com/sale/5701...le%2bCatalogue

that's a lot of steel for sale, strange that they're offloading it.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by bmorris

It is a big shame, but everyone here should of known this was coming. Falcon not selling so jobs go. Pretty simple.

Like was stated before, they really need to pick up on development times, so many great products just released way to late.

Its not development times, they are typically pretty standard in the industry.

Its the morons who get paid big bucks that come flying in, think they are going to change the world, undo all of the previous work to only end up where the original direction was going anyway, wasting time and money. That is the problem.

[BroadyFord]

Every time I see the Ford logo on the Age homepage, I know it's not good!

[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.

[stang65]

Originally Posted by Charliewool

Looks like a fire sale on their steel stock also?
http://www.graysonline.com/sale/5701...le%2bCatalogue

What makes you think it`s their stock?

[Smoke Pursuit]

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.

They were a work tool. Just like a Kenworth Truck.. Kenworth have hardly changed anything on their T650 - T659 Models over the last 23 years, and they still sell in big numbers...

They should have just kept the BFIII wagon and put the zf in it / new LPG.. Would have cost them bugger all and would have kept them with 400 cars a month. If they were really cluey they would have put reverse park assist on them, 16 inch alloys and a colour screen with rear camera / cheap gps option.

[Chopped]

Yeah Yeah, but at least they are saving money and being profitable.
That is all that counts isn't it ?.

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by stang65

What makes you think it`s their stock?

Well it sure ain't GMH's! (Unless they've moved to Norlane)

[HULK EF]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

Ummm the demand for large cars hasnt dropped Bob, you just can't anything over the line that people actually want..

Holden still sell plenty of Commodores, and Commodore utes!

You cannot put it all down to a dieing segment, you need to take some responsibility and start to get some **** happening with Falcon!! e.g. Gas, 4 cylinder and XR8. No point talking about it.

funny how wagon stopped being updated. then killed off... Fairlane too.. now e gas has been gone for awhile. not to mention xr8.. No wonder fords sales are in the poo..
While the above were not MASSIVE sellers.. every sale helped considering the piddling amount of sales now..
Commodore is reaping the rewards of a decade of good advertising.. being bold and daring with models.. MONARO/ SPORTS WAGON..
Commodore killing the falcon each month in sales and has done so for 15 years..
Want the VN nearly killed off? or a possibility from VL onwards to be killed off?
How far is the FG from that?
Feel sorry for the workers losing their jobs.. Feel it's fords doing rather than the Market sales.. Would this be happening if falcon pulled 3000+ sales per month just like the commodore?!

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by stang65

What makes you think it`s their stock?

Well why wouldn't it be?? The auctioneer says "under instructions from Ford Motor Company of Australia Ltd" whose else would it be!!

Unless its unused steel stock left over from the BF days that can no longer be used...but its strange...and a bit alarming...but it could just truly be unused stock that will never be used and should be sold off anyway.

[SEZ213]

Originally Posted by Charliewool

Well it sure ain't GMH's! (Unless they've moved to Norlane)

It also says under instruction from Ford Motor Company of Australia - with the big blue oval on the top right hand corner...but I digress...

It does say voluntary redundancies - so those what want out are being paid out as a result. That's my understanding anyway. Could be some pretty hefty payout figures if they've been there for extended periods of time...

[stang65]

So that means JACK it could have come from anywhere.

[350125GO]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

Is it really a shock? Julia is riding this countries economy all the way into the ground.......

Yeah, damn Julia and her influence on the car buying public!

[SEZ213]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Well why wouldn't it be?? The auctioneer says "under instructions from Ford Motor Company of Australia Ltd" whose else would it be!!

Unless its unused steel stock left over from the BF days that can no longer be used...but its strange...and a bit alarming...but it could just truly be unused stock that will never be used and should be sold off anyway.

There is one other theory - having worked with steel and aluminium - it may be possible that they bought this stock when it was incredibly cheap and are now making a profit off it. Storage costs, etc. factor in to it as well, making it more viable to sell it than try to store it.

[FPV+fteT3]

Might be the time to get into a falcon before they go the way of the dodo.

[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.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Id say its excess stock that they dont have room to store and they are under contract to purchase. Its no good to them if they dont have the room to use it and they probably have more coming!!