Way Forward Plan is Necessary According to CEO Bill Ford
As was highly anticipated, Ford Motor Co. announced Monday that it is closing 14 North American plants, and cutting up to 30,000
Here at home, the St. Thomas, Ontario, assembly plant will be reduced from two shifts to one. The plant currently employs 2,300 people and the move could potentially eliminate over 1,000 jobs. The factory builds the Grand Marquis and Crown Victoria, both which have been selling poorly lately but still are important vehicles for all-important fleet customers. Sales of the two cars fell 14 percent last year in North American markets, from 154,843 in 2004 to 132,657 in 2005. The St. Thomas plant is capable of producing about 240,000 cars per year, almost double of what is being sold. Ford maintains it is committed to an earlier promise to invest $200 million into the St. Thomas operation. "I
As previously announced, the closing of a casting plant in Windsor will go ahead. Last fall, after talks between Ford and the CAW, it was made known that up to 1,100 jobs at the Windsor facility could be cut by 2008. Hargrove feels that U.S. and Canadian governments must step up to help the automotive industry by addressing the automotive import and export restrictions. The CAW President says it is unfair that millions of vehicles can be imported from
"We could be hiring like the Japanese and the Koreans, instead of throwing people on the streets... one way trade is not free trade." On the flip side, it's full speed ahead at Ford's Oakville plant, where a billion dollar makeover to flexible manufacturing will make it one of the stars of the Way Forward plan. In an earlier interview with Canadian Auto Press, Ford Canada President William Osborne said, "Oakville is an important staple to the Ford business model. It will be the most flexible plant producing multiple (car) models." Meanwhile in the United States, the closings will cut even deeper into Ford's U.S. hourly employment of 82,000 workers, though the exact percentage is not yet known. Facilities slated for closure through 2008 include the St. Louis assembly plant, the Atlanta assembly plant, the Wixom assembly plant and the Batavia transmission plant. Recent Articles
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