Further job cuts at Ford

Ford Australia has issued a statement announcing it would shed 440 jobs spread across the two manufacturing facilities in Geelong and Broadmeadows.

“We understand that, unfortunately, the impact on our employees will be significant, but implementing this structural change is essential to ensure the longer-term health of the business, which is important for our employees, our suppliers and the communities in which we operate, ” the statement quoted Ford president, Robert Graziano as saying.

“All employees who take up the redundancy will receive a competitive redundancy package, including training and career counselling; and we will work closely with them and our union partners to help our employees make the transition successfully.”

The latest news from the blue oval is further evidence of the diminishing market for large cars in Australia. Ford has never had the opportunity to export its cars to the markets that have kept local manufacturing viable at Holden and Toyota, and the seismic shift to smaller cars and SUVs in the domestic market has left the company's iconic Falcon model dangerously exposed. The EcoBoost turbocharged four-cylinder engine is arguably Ford's best hope for volume sales of the Falcon beyond the introduction of the Euro 5 emissions standard, but is yet to fire up sales.

According to VFACTS, Ford's sales volumes have been buoyed over the last 12 months by the resurgent Territory SUV, which is built on the same production line — but despite the two models selling over 3200 units combined last month, the result for June hasn't been enough to stave off the latest wave of retrenchments.

According to a  media statement issued by the company yesterday, voluntary redundancies will be sought in the first instance, however, it may be necessary to compulsorily retrench staff if the head count hasn't been reduced by 440 workers within three and a half months.

By reducing the number of staff Ford can cut production from 209 vehicles a day to just 148, effective from November of this year. Once the new production program is in place, nearly 50 per cent of production slots will be allocated to the Territory. Ford claims that while it will be building fewer cars from November, it will also be building a more profitable mix.

“Customer preferences are continuing to move rapidly towards more fuel efficient vehicles, which is why we have recently introduced Ford’s global EcoBoost technology to Falcon. This global technology has brought fuel efficiency improvements of up to 20 per cent and reduced emissions by a similar amount. We believe this and other recently introduced technologies such as our EcoLPi system, will stabilise sales in this segment,” said Mr Graziano.

“We have also recently announced a further $103 million investment across our locally produced vehicle lines, which will come to market in 2014, which demonstrates our on-going support for the large car segment in Australia.

“We are committed to the Ford brand and continuing to produce vehicles in Australia.”

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