One door opens, another closes

"The challenge is that we need to run this place for another three years."

Those were the words of Ford president Tom Gorman at this month's media briefing, referring to the continuing need to supply Falcon production with the in-line six-cylinder engine through to the introduction of the new 'Cyclone' V6.

Ford is confronted with the difficulty of keeping enough staff on board at the Geelong engine plant until there's no further need to produce the local six.

With the in-line six powering the Project Orion Falcon for three years from the car's introduction early 2008, Ford cannot afford to lose too many staff through natural attrition.

Re-training, retrenchment and redeployment are all options open to Ford as a way of ensuring that the engine plant remains adequately staffed up to the time the new V6 begins to be shipped -- without a massive cost burden to shed staff at that time.

"If everyone decides to jump ship... we're going to have a problem, because this isn't a phase-down of the engine. This engine's going to run until the middle of 2010 and it's going to stop," said Gorman. 

"In essence, a Falcon's going to come down the line and it's going to have an 'I6' and the next one's going to have a V6 -- and that's the end of the I6.

"So that presents a real challenge for us. How do we keep people motivated, focused on safety, focused on quality, focused on producing efficiently?"

The case for changing to the new V6 is a matter of Ford Australia "biting the bullet" in the first instance, undertaking significant re-engineering of the car (Orion), but then reaping lower costs of further development for this engine, since the costs are amortised across a million units, not the 70,000 per annum built by Ford in Geelong.

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