Ford - Commemorating 91 Years of Manufacturing in Australia

[kscarbel2]

Ford Australia Press Release  /  October 6, 2016

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[kscarbel2]

After 91 Years, Ford's Australian Car Production Line Ends

The Associated Press  /  October 7, 2016

Ford Motor Co. ended 91 years of car manufacturing in Australia on Friday, with the last two Australian car makers due to close their doors next year.

Ford Australia said it built the world's last six-cylinder, rear-wheel drive Falcon XR6 at its Broadmeadows plant in Melbourne and 600 employees lost their jobs, the company said.

About 3.5 million Falcons, once Australians' most popular, have been built since 1960, although few have been exported.

Perhaps the most famous was a black 1973 XB GT Ford Falcon Coupe that became the Interceptor driven by Mel Gibson's character in the 1981 movie "The Road Warrior."

The last Falcon will be exhibited in the Ford Australia museum, the Australian subsidiary's chief executive officer Graeme Whickman told reporters outside the plant.

"Today is an emotional day for the entire team of Ford Australia,"Whickman said.

"We are saying goodbye to some wonderful manufacturing colleagues who have done a great deal for Ford in Australia," he said.

Ford, General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. announced in 2013 that they were quitting Australia and shedding 6,600 jobs because of high production costs, distance from potential export markets and increasing competition.

Ford will continue to sell and service imported cars in Australia and Australia-based engineers will help develop designs of vehicles that will be manufactured overseas, the company said.

Because of that continuing presence, Whickman said Ford will become the largest employer in the Australian automotive industry when Toyota and General Motors subsidiary, GM Holden, end production in 2017. The V8 Holden Commodore is sold in the United States as the Chevrolet SS.

Ford will employ 2,000 staff at Broadmeadows and the Victoria state towns of Lara and Geelong. Ford opened its first Australian production line at Geelong in 1925.

[kscarbel2]

Oval and out: Ford ends 91 years of manufacturing in Australia as last Falcon rolls off the line

News Australia  /  October 8, 2016

THE Ford Falcon got an emotional send-off as Broadmeadows ended 91 years of manufacturing in Australia for the US car giant yesterday.

From 1925 til then Ford Australia built more than 5.9 million vehicles — more than 4.3 million of them at Broadmeadows, including most of the 3.8 million Falcons manufactured since 1960.

In a telling sign about Australia’s changing taste in cars, the overwhelming majority of Ford workers leaving the factory were driving imported vehicles. One of the few locally-made cars to emerge at the end of shift was an old Toyota Camry.

Some workers leaving the factory were too upset for words, others were happy to be retiring with payouts of up to $250,000, which they likened to a “lottery win”.

After 40 years of service, 62-year-old Wayne Mann said: “I’m feeling really good, I’ve got a quarter of a million dollars to say goodbye,” said Mr Mann. “What other company gives you quarter of a million dollars to leave? I’m retiring, thank you very much. Not sad at all.”

A tough-looking but teary-eyed Nick Doria — who spread a Ford flag across his chest with the words “RIP Falcon” — walked outside the factory perimeter to brave the media scrum that was obliged to watch from the footpath, 100 metres away from the factory gates.

He installed the dashboard on the last Falcon.

The 22-year Ford veteran says his co-workers were “like family”, his eyes glassing up as he said, “long live Ford”.

“There’s a lot that are going to struggle (for jobs). They can’t read or write or apply themselves on computers, and that’s where they’re going to struggle,” he said.

An outreach centre opens next to the Ford factory on Monday, but the company has been hosting job fairs, career courses and literacy classes for the past three years.

Michael Jong, originally from East Timor, said he was “proud” to work for Ford. Having worked for Ford for 12 years he has a six-month contract to help with decommissioning the factory in Geelong. But after that: “I don’t know. I’m worried.”

Son, 45, from Vietnam, has been working for Ford for 13 years. He has a wife and four children — and no job to go to. “I tried to find, but it’s very hard.”

Sash Razmovski, said the Broadmeadows factories brought a lot of cultures together. “At one stage we had 150 cultures in there. It was great place to work. Great mates. Sadly we have to move on.”

A man who gave his name as Jackie, a Ford worker for 18 years, said: “I’m sad for (the) whole Australian industry. We lost the car industry.”

On the same day Ford bid farewell to the Falcon, Holden built its last four-cylinder car, the Cruze hatchback, and 320 workers were sacked.

The Elizabeth production line on the outskirts of Adelaide will continue to build the Commodore for another 12 months until it too falls silent forever, and the remaining 800 workers will call it a day.

Industry estimates claim at least one-third of all workers won’t find new jobs.

“It’s a shame for Australia because we lose so much when we no longer have vehicle manufacturing. Hopefully our workers will be given a chance in other industries,” said Dave Smith, the AMWU National Vehicle Division Secretary.

“A very significant amount of people are no longer going to be bringing wages into the community and have the dignity of employment,” he said. “On Monday I think they will wake up and the reality of this closure will hit home.”

Ford boss Graeme Whickman said building the Falcon for the past five decades gave the company the ability to export engineering skills.

It will keep 1100 designers and engineers — including 160 former factory workers — to work on future models. But they’ll be built overseas.

When asked by News Corp Australia if there was anything the government could have done to save the car industry, and if Australia will ever manufacture cars again, Mr Whickman said: “It’s an industry decision”, before deferring to comments about Ford’s design and engineering workforce in Australia.

In reality, though, Ford has been trying to close Broadmeadows for 20 years.

Following heavy financial losses by Ford Australia in the early 1990s, Ford of Detroit secretly planned to end Falcon production and close the Broadmeadows and Geelong factories in 1997, at the end of the “EL” Falcon model run.

But senior Ford Australia executives took their case to Detroit to give the Falcon a stay of execution and do one last model.

The then Ford Australia boss, American John Ogden, went in to bat for the locals — against the consensus in Detroit — and argued to keep Broadmeadows and Geelong factories alive for one more generation of Falcon.

At the time, he said: “I came here wanting to do a (global) car. I think it makes more sense, I still do. The problem we’ve had is we haven’t found one from somewhere else (in the Ford world) that fits.”

In the end, if Ford Australia wanted to build another Falcon, they would have to fund it themselves. There would be no assistance from Detroit.

When John Ogden eventually returned to Detroit from his Australian post he was “sidelined and retired not long after”, according to Ford historians.

Ford retiree, Ian Vaughan, who worked at the company for 37 years and was regarded as “the father of the Falcon” having overseen so many models, told News Corp Australia: “My proudest memory is keeping the place open for the last 20 years.”

Mr Vaughan said he told the then Ford boss John Ogden: “We Aussies think there’s another cycle of Falcon left in us’. The push back we were getting from Detroit was ‘we think you’ve got to do a global car’. We got another 20 years in the end.”

Video and images - http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/motoring/oval-and-out-ford-ends-91-years-of-manufacturing-in-australia-as-last-falcon-rolls-off-the-line/news-story/6a4b376489939436be262fffb7c1ee85

[mrsmackpaul]

Yeah not happy Jan FFS really when will the government stop wrecking this great country of ours 

 

 

[Timmyb]

 

9 minutes ago, mrsmackpaul said:

Yeah not happy Jan FFS really when will the government stop wrecking this great country of ours 

 

 

By that, do you mean the massive amount of car manufacturers allowed to sell in this country? For a population of about 24mil we have over 60 manufacturers selling here. Compared to US population of over 400mil and how many manufacturers sell there? I was told roughly 35. 

But ford (and Holden) needed to realise big cars are on the nose. Instead of making them bigger and heavier they should of down sized them. 

Anyway, it's sad to see them go. 

[mrsmackpaul]

No Tim 

The government know what has to be done to keep the manufacturing industry competitive and it isnt handing out bucket loads of cash they did that and it didnt work

If you look back at history you can see when Australia was running at its best and the way the country was run the policies the government had in place to make that happen and it did work and work really well we had full employment almost everything was made here overseas companies would set up factories to build gear 

Todays world and it has been heading this way for 35 years or more the government have slowly been undermining everything  Australians have worked for 

Our Prime ministers have stated "no one should have to work in a job they dont like for a living", "we  must become the clever country", "Every person should go to university " 

The government has openly encouraged the importation of cheap crap at the cost of Australia jobs , they set up policies for kids leaving school were there is great shame in becoming a factory worker or tradesman heck for that matter any blue collar job 

The government have set Ford and Holden up to fail by handing out bucket loads of cash to on the condition they keep on building these cars people dont want anymore 

Had they have butted out and left the country as it was back in the early 70's none of this would have happened , the biggest catalyst for change was when the UK joined the EEC or the EU as its called today the Australian government was so desperate to find trading partners they signed away the very heart and soul of this country for a little bit of trade 

Has it worked ???? well we can all be a judge on that but one thing that no person can deny is the Australia of the past is a lot safer than the Australia of today and all sorts of ways 

We had safety in job security, safety in a economy that was booming, safety as in health and well being, safety in we could and would build everything and anything and were the world leaders in most things 

We have let this all go shame on us

 

Paul  

[BillyT]

WOW does that sound familiar!! I had a friend back in the 60s who read somewhere that Australia was actively recruiting responsible persons to move to your country,but by today's standards the requirements were pretty draconian! These folks had to be hard working,self supporting ( I.e. have a job waiting, or a sponsor who would employ them,or sufficient money to sustain their lifestyle) My friend said there was a great deal of opportunity in Australia! Kinda like our old west! There is a crying need in America for skilled tradesman (nobody wants to get their hands dirty) But our "leaders" want everyone to get a degree.And most of those who do are up to their arses in debt for their school loans! You could employ virtually every  able bodied person in America for years at a good wage just rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure! Here in Florida the contractors can't find welders, plumbers, carpenters etc. Well guess what,there are plenty of people from other countries who are willing to get their hands dirty here! I think everyone who wants a degree should have the opportunity to EARN one ! All the problems  M M Paul described are rampant in America.!

[mrsmackpaul]

Yep Billy I have said before how I dont think there is that difference between Australia and America we both have governments that seem hell bent on driving is into the ditch as fast as they can they seem to want us all to be on welfare and do there darndest to send us all broke and break free enterprise and the one thing in Australia the government hates more than anything else is the small self employed business man , maybe he has a tough spirit that the government cant break easily 

 

Anyway way of the topic of Ford Australia and the train wreck they are fast becoming 

 

Paul

[Underdog]

Ford Australia doesn't build 'em any longer, now we send Mustangs from the states. I wrote this one up as damaged. The steering wheel is on the wrong side.

[mrsmackpaul]

Yes I was stunned to learn the other day that they have been sold out here for two years !!! I really need to get off the farm more often I havent even seen one driving around out here

And Holden I was told is gunna start selling the Camaro so no more dunny doors for this wide brown land 

 

Paul 

Edited October 11, 2016 by mrsmackpaul