More ford Australia redundancies

[Wretched]

I guess Ford isn't really in a good position right now (globally) and are looking to consolidate where they can. In addition, I cannot say I am very confident with the current leadership group at Ford right now.
I think there is more to the VW partnership than what is being said right now. I guess we'll just have to wait.

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by vztrt

But these jobs are engineering jobs...not manufacturing.

Yes, but engineering is an ‘industry’.

You think among billions of Asian’s, they can’t develop an engineering team?

[Sprintey]

There was much talk here when manufacturing ceased that it was great all the engineering/design remained, we can hope it will but we will see. The Asian countries will sell loss leaders until they eliminate domestic competition and then re-price. Ask yourself, are performance RWDs or handling SUVs cheaper now that our manufacturing is gone? The dual cabs cost a small fortune too. 27K onroad base Corollas!!! Aussie designers, keep hitting the ball out of the park (Ranger, Territory) at a reasonable price and the work will keep coming. I've heard stories of how domestic IT workers are sacked, their replacements are useless, then they subcontract their old jobs at a much higher rate to fix the stuff ups...

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

Yes, but engineering is an ‘industry’.

You think among billions of Asian’s, they can’t develop an engineering team?

But these jobs are going back to the US. So what's Asia got to do with it?

[GASWAGON]

Hmmm........More 'restructuring'!!!!

Did'nt think it would last.....I drove past the 'engineering' site around the back of the old Broadmeadows factory during my last job for a job.

Quite a few new Mustangs in the car park there was from what i could see.

[simon varley]

on the surface at least it makes sense. to the bean counters. by consolidating all body-on-frame work into one platform globally they can use modular architecture components an theoretically engineer F150, Ranger, Explorer etc more simply and cheaply.

Unfortunately I really don't think Ranger and Everest can ever be a scaled down F-series, and if the Yanks think they can they will be rudely awakened when the cars don't sell.

After all if we are being honest apart from the V8 engine the Mustang is a pretty average car with crappy plastics, bad paint, poor panel fitments and lots of squeaks and rattles. F150 may sell big in the US, but everywhere else in the world it's a niche car.

What really hurts is that if the goal was to consolidate the design, I honestly believe that the Australia team could design a much better F150 than the Yanks could on a Ranger. Still, it's a done deal. Nobody was ever really gong to listen to a few hundred people over here when it came to a global restructure. All we can do now is try and somehow make the best of it.

it still hurts, but after a few days of consideration.... nah, who am I kidding. it still hurts.

[DJR-351]

Some interesting posts in this <2 year old thread that might be worth reflecting on for some....

https://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11463015

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by DJR-351

Some interesting posts in this <2 year old thread that might be worth reflecting on for some....

https://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11463015

But they sounded so credible when spun in unison......

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by simon varley

it's a lot more involved than all of that. Hackett has been taking stick for some time now about the slow pace of change, and in fact the shares have fallen more under his leadership than they did under Fields. Part of the change that the whole company is going through is to move to modular architectures, and only 5 vehicle groups. What that means for Ford Australia is that the T6 platform will now be combined with the T3 platform and lead out of North America. Short term there are immediate powertrain job losses, but longer term after we launch the next gen Ranger, it really doesn't look like there will be any more engineering work for us here.

I feel for you Simon. Ive watched since being involved, albeit only for 14 months a few years back from a company I aspired to be with to one that had to fight to be fully recognised.

It was hard to be passionate and push when everything was so geared towards cost saving and just trying to stay afloat.

Ive even been toying about applying to come back but I made a call at the time to leave the state to play in a big hole. The head is OK with the decision but the heart is another thing.

Its sad, I hope something else comes of it soon. Good Luck.

[Sprintey]

Originally Posted by simon varley

Unfortunately I really don't think Ranger and Everest can ever be a scaled down F-series, and if the Yanks think they can they will be rudely awakened when the cars don't sell.


What really hurts is that if the goal was to consolidate the design, I honestly believe that the Australia team could design a much better F150 than the Yanks could on a Ranger. Still, it's a done deal. Nobody was ever really gong to listen to a few hundred people over here when it came to a global restructure. All we can do now is try and somehow make the best of it.

From what I know of the history the Yanks thought they could replace the XY Falcon with a scaled down Torino, the Aussie design team went over and showed them exactly how out of proportion this would have been - they got approval to "do it their way" and the result was the XA. Then there was Geoff Polites pitching the Territory program to them, and surprise, surprise managment thought it looked better than the Freestyle.

FOA engineers and designers are top notch. If only the company was Australian owned and funded with Australian capital, and with someone like Geoff at the helm...

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by stoodoo

Inevitably, as i think I mentioned long ago, companies will go wherever the cheapest labour is. Australia is not that place at the moment, nor has it been for some time - nor will it be for who knows how long.

With the aussie dollar at 70c it more than likely we are cheaper labour than the US or Europe. So it makes no sense on a cost front doing more work in the US. But an american company will look after americans first I guess.

I wonder wether it's a case of because they are no longer doing passenger vehicles, bar Mustang, they have a lot of idle engineers needing work.