whats doing at the factory?

[henry_ford]

Are we closing or not? i know from chatting on line that plenty of people who work at the factory are on the Forums. Any news this morning?

Last email i recieved last night suggested that they were going to close, has that changed?

[vztrt]

Went past barry rd at about 10:15 and all the line workers cars were there, so they didn't tell everybody to stay home today. Mind you they might send them home early.

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by henry_ford

Are we closing or not? i know from chatting on line that plenty of people who work at the factory are on the Forums. Any news this morning?

Last email i recieved last night suggested that they were going to close, has that changed?

Unfortunately mate I would suggest that "the factory" is definately going to close........maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow or next week etc, but it will definately close eventually.

The manufacturing sector in Australia is stuffed, many thousands of jobs have been lost already across various manufacturing industries and many thousands more will follow.

Australian manufacturers simply cannot compete in this global economy with their "overseas/asian" competitors, their only options are to close up shop here and set up overseas themselves or a more likely scenario is to obtain ready made products and re-badge them for the local market.........."Chinese Ford" products anyone?

A company like Ford (as an example) that are so seriously strapped for cash and in the last throws of death in relation to their own very existance are not going to continue to manufacture products in an overseas domain, aka: Australia at an exorbitant cost whilst jobs are being lost in their own local manufacturing sector, aka: USA.

They will have to bite the bullet and make the only decision I can see available to them, close down costly manufacturing facilities on foreign soils in order to save as many local jobs as possible in order to minimise political fallout at home "and" source cheaper re-badged products for those foreign markets.

I would not be at all surprised if Australias beloved Falcon in the not too distant future could well be in fact a re-badged Hyundai Sonata, Kia Magentis or similar.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by robjh80

Unfortunately mate I would suggest that "the factory" is definately going to close........maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow or next week etc, but it will definately close eventually.

The manufacturing sector in Australia is stuffed, many thousands of jobs have been lost already across various manufacturing industries and many thousands more will follow.

Australian manufacturers simply cannot compete in this global economy with their "overseas/asian" competitors, their only options are to close up shop here and set up overseas themselves or a more likely scenario is to obtain ready made products and re-badge them for the local market.........."Chinese Ford" products anyone?

A company like Ford (as an example) that are so seriously strapped for cash and in the last throws of death in relation to their own very existance are not going to continue to manufacture products in an overseas domain, aka: Australia at an exorbitant cost whilst jobs are being lost in their own local manufacturing sector, aka: USA.

They will have to bite the bullet and make the only decision I can see available to them, close down costly manufacturing facilities on foreign soils in order to save as many local jobs as possible in order to minimise political fallout at home "and" source cheaper re-badged products for those foreign markets.

I would not be at all surprised if Australias beloved Falcon in the not too distant future could well be in fact a re-badged Hyundai Sonata, Kia Magentis or similar.

They are here till the end of Orion, we know that much, thats 7 years away and even then they wont manufacturing here.

[Outbackjack]

Originally Posted by robjh80

Unfortunately mate I would suggest that "the factory" is definately going to close........maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow or next week etc, but it will definately close eventually.

The manufacturing sector in Australia is stuffed, many thousands of jobs have been lost already across various manufacturing industries and many thousands more will follow.

Australian manufacturers simply cannot compete in this global economy with their "overseas/asian" competitors, their only options are to close up shop here and set up overseas themselves or a more likely scenario is to obtain ready made products and re-badge them for the local market.........."Chinese Ford" products anyone?

A company like Ford (as an example) that are so seriously strapped for cash and in the last throws of death in relation to their own very existance are not going to continue to manufacture products in an overseas domain, aka: Australia at an exorbitant cost whilst jobs are being lost in their own local manufacturing sector, aka: USA.

They will have to bite the bullet and make the only decision I can see available to them, close down costly manufacturing facilities on foreign soils in order to save as many local jobs as possible in order to minimise political fallout at home "and" source cheaper re-badged products for those foreign markets.

I would not be at all surprised if Australias beloved Falcon in the not too distant future could well be in fact a re-badged Hyundai Sonata, Kia Magentis or similar.

That sums it up. And until Australians accept the same conditions as those in China, it will be a one way journey. To be competive we will have to cut wages back to $150 per month, work 12 hours days, 6 days a week, no anual leave, no sick leave, if you are a female and you fall pregnant you will forfeit your last months salary to the company as compensation for re-training costs, super annuation-- whats that? , no heating or air conditioning in the factories if they are a certain distance south. These conditions are law, dictated by the communist government. But with the Chinese economy running at +15% things could very easily go bang up there in a big way. That will throw the cat amongst the pigeons. Why we ever elected to do busines with these commies is beyond me, something about an even playing feild I believe and selling our resources to them........

[whiskieboy]

At this stage we still DONT know!! They are still talking and a desicion will be made later probably before 4. While they are still talking were running out of bits, but at least their talking. When we know you'll know, i guess.

[wulos]

Originally Posted by henry_ford

Are we closing or not? i know from chatting on line that plenty of people who work at the factory are on the Forums. Any news this morning?

Last email i recieved last night suggested that they were going to close, has that changed?

What factory specifically are you talking about?
Is it possible that the email(s) are from one of your mates? having a stir?
With the exception of a short stoppage I can't see Broadmeadows closing down permanently any time soon.
With the cessation of Fairlane production, Brisbane perhaps, but not Broadmeadows. Hopefully FoA will see Brisbane as viable & able to convert Brisbane's tooling to allow continual production up there as well, even if it is a different product to what they have made in the past, but time will tell.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by wulos

What factory specifically are you talking about?
Is it possible that the email(s) are from one of your mates? having a stir?
With the exception of a short stoppage I can't see Broadmeadows closing down permanently any time soon.
With the cessation of Fairlane production, Brisbane perhaps, but not Broadmeadows. Hopefully FoA will see Brisbane as viable & able to convert Brisbane's tooling to allow continual production up there as well, even if it is a different product to what they have made in the past, but time will tell.

Brisbane?? Brisbane hasnt built Fairlanes for how many years now?? Since the 80s i believe?? :

Its currently a Holding yard for new Nissans, or atleast it was 3 years ago and before that they used it as a Ford Trucks holding yard. It still has the Ford logo on part of it.

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by LSTerritoryGhia

Brisbane?? Brisbane hasnt built Fairlanes for how many years now?? Since the 80s i believe?? :

Its currently a Holding yard for new Nissans, or atleast it was 3 years ago and before that they used it as a Ford Trucks holding yard. It still has the Ford logo on part of it.

Yep Brisbance stopped building Fairlanes in 1988. They then converted to Louivilles until that stopped in 1998 and the plant was closed.

I guess that plant won't be re-tooling for anything right now !!

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Barraxr8

Yep Brisbance stopped building Fairlanes in 1988. They then converted to Louivilles until that stopped in 1998 and the plant was closed.

I guess that plant won't be re-tooling for anything right now !!

Thought that was the case...

All i remember is seeing Louivilles out there one day, then a few years later a heap of Nissan Patrols lined up (storage only). Not sure whats there at hte moment or if the plants still there but there would definately be nothing inside. :

[dave351cid]

Originally Posted by Barraxr8

Yep Brisbance stopped building Fairlanes in 1988. They then converted to Louivilles until that stopped in 1998 and the plant was closed.

I guess that plant won't be re-tooling for anything right now !!

i think that the only new tooling being done in the old brisbane factory is for house windows

when i went past there last year every thing in that area had the name " G J JAMES GLASS " on it. seems they have taken over the whole street.

so unless Ford have plans of putting sliding windows in the new falcon i dont think we will be getting much from brissy.

[henry_ford]

i didnt mean closing down forever, i mean are we stopping the line untill we fix the suppliers little financial "issue"? and while i am at it Robjh80 that was a little pompus and indulgent wasnt it? while you are in my opinion correct, that was a very self important, verbose message you posted, you could have said all of that in half the time. hey bugger it when in doubt puff it out.....

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by henry_ford

i didnt mean closing down forever, i mean are we stopping the line untill we fix the suppliers little financial "issue"? and while i am at it Robjh80 that was a little pompus and indulgent wasnt it? while you are in my opinion correct, that was a very self important, verbose message you posted, you could have said all of that in half the time. hey bugger it when in doubt puff it out.....

"fix the suppliers little financial issue".........is that similar to Ford's very own "miniscule/tiny/small/quite big/major/oh god we're screwed" issue?

"little pompus and indulgent, verbose message".......

"Oh sorry, I get it now........I didn't realise you're actually a Ford Salesperson, I must have cut a bit close to the bone, clearly you dont fancy selling Ford Sonata's or Ford Rio's then?"

Is that short enough for you?........ we dont want you working too hard now reading all those nasty words and stuff do we, I'll try and post more pictures next time.

[henry_ford]

top avatar though...

[photn]

Originally Posted by henry_ford

top avatar though...

Rofl....i didnt even know there was a supplier issue.... whats the issue... ???

[TheSneakiness]

Some mob went into administration that supplies parts for Ford and Holden.

I read in on NineMSN yesterday...

[henry_ford]

hate long posts, copied a little from another thread... i had a mate who works there email me and say that they were going to stop the line. i have half a dozen cars in build for customers at the moment so it is of huge intrest to me. FoMoCo is being very hush hush on whats happening though.. (annoying)

Dispute halts V8 Falcon production and could force a full shutdown at Ford tomorrow


FORD Australia stopped building V8 Falcons on Monday of this week and is expected to cease Falcon and Territory production completely and indefinitely from tomorrow following the failure of a meeting to shore up a cash-strapped Victoria auto parts company yesterday.

Meetings between the administrator of vehicle components supplier Coghlan and Russell Engineering and its creditors (including 49 staff stood down last week, their union representatives and major customers Ford and Delphi) will continue.

However, a resolution is not expected in time to prevent Ford’s Broadmeadows assembly plant closing until further notice from Thursday.

"At this stage we've run out of one particular part for our V8 engines, so our V8s have gone into restriction in terms of production," Ford spokeswoman Sinead McAlary told GoAuto yesterday.

"We are still working through it, but it looks like we’ll be running out of six or seven other parts that we need across the range by close of business Wednesday (today).

"So our production could well be affected as from Thursday – which means we’ll be looking at plant stand-downs," said Ms McAlary, who added that Coghlan & Russell is yet to advise how many components remained in stock.

[henry_ford]

much better. thankyou for adjusting for me. cut close to the bone.... please... i agread with you. i just thought that like some people you are more intrested in sounding intelligent than you are in getting your point accross. you almost proved it with your reply. but you were restrained. pity.
still amusing that you thought i was annoyed by what you said. i wasnt. it was just the plum in your mouth while you wrote it. anyway. dont really want to go back and forth for hours. as fun as that would be.

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by henry_ford

i just thought that like some people you are more intrested in sounding intelligent than you are in getting your point accross. you almost proved it with your reply. but you were restrained. pity.

"Some people being whom?"

Sounding more intelligent than I am? ..........no I dont think so, but yes I can attempt to at least construct a reasonable and correctly punctuated sentence.

"You almost proved it with your reply (no fullstop required here, comma would suffice) but you were restrained, (have inserted comma for example) pity."..........."sorry, you completely lost me on this one, time again for another one of these.......

Originally Posted by henry_ford

it was just the plum in your mouth while you wrote it. anyway. dont really want to go back and forth for hours. as fun as that would be

Plum in my mouth? .......... no plum here young fella, I was born and raised in West London,....... Slough to be exact for anyone who knows the area well, certainly not a well to do area I can assure you.

Got involved in a Firm and Right Wing activities from a young age and generally run amock and learnt the craft of the streets, "again no plums here I'm afraid."

"As fun as it would be"........"do come back and play soon"... :yeees:

[banarcus]

Originally Posted by robjh80

Plum in my mouth? .......... no plum here young fella, I was born and raised in West London,....... Slough to be exact for anyone who knows the area well, certainly not a well to do area I can assure you

Hmm I've been there. I used to work at Colnbrook. I used to see those gypsy caravan people camping in horse paddocks around there actually so there definately wasn't any plums in mouths in that area.

[henry_ford]

more pictures like your Avatar will be fine. it would also save you from using a thesaurus as much.. (sorry couldnt resist another dig) its all good.

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by henry_ford

more pictures like your Avatar will be fine. it would also save you from using a thesaurus as much.. (sorry couldnt resist another dig) its all good.

Yea, the Avatar's quite sweet isn't it.

Theasaurus?.........."LOL, no not required, never even picked one up," as you say, "it's all good"

Now let's go and enjoy the Aussie vs Kiwi test match

Catch ya later, Rob.

[Piotr]

Germany manages to have a competitive car sector with the high costs associate with building cars in Germany. No reason Ford Aus can't be competitive here.

The factory didn't stop because costs were too high, the factory stopped because a supplier went bust and they ran out of parts, NOT FORDS FAULT.

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by Piotr

Germany manages to have a competitive car sector with the high costs associate with building cars in Germany. No reason Ford Aus can't be competitive here.

The factory didn't stop because costs were too high, the factory stopped because a supplier went bust and they ran out of parts, NOT FORDS FAULT.

Yep I think there will be some big (but good changes) in Ford Australia in the next 5 years. I also thing the little Aussie will become a bigger player on the Ford world stage.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Barraxr8

Yep I think there will be some big (but good changes) in Ford Australia in the next 5 years. I also thing the little Aussie will become a bigger player on the Ford world stage.

No doubt about this, the Export Stage will possibly bigger then the local market, its just making sure they can do so and still be profitable at the same time.

Territory and Falcon Sedan and Ute would both rebuild Ford USA. The issue is dont think we could supply enough to accomodate the demand. :

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Piotr

Germany manages to have a competitive car sector with the high costs associate with building cars in Germany. No reason Ford Aus can't be competitive here.

The factory didn't stop because costs were too high, the factory stopped because a supplier went bust and they ran out of parts, NOT FORDS FAULT.

Actually it is Fords fault. If they weren't so tough on pricing then there would be less of an issue, not to mention the fact that they over paid the company 2.5 million and asked for it back (what happen to accounting standards in this entry??).

[banarcus]

Originally Posted by Piotr

Germany manages to have a competitive car sector with the high costs associate with building cars in Germany. No reason Ford Aus can't be competitive here.

The factory didn't stop because costs were too high, the factory stopped because a supplier went bust and they ran out of parts, NOT FORDS FAULT.

Long term, I cant see people wanting to spend similar dollars on an Aussie built car. We cannot compete with cheap overseas labour and Australians are too tight to pay a bit more just to keep jobs here. It's as simple as that.

[chich]

Originally Posted by Piotr

Germany manages to have a competitive car sector with the high costs associate with building cars in Germany. No reason Ford Aus can't be competitive here.

Germany manages because:
a) They build better, desirable cars and more importantly
b) They sell their products gloablly in significant volumes. 100,000 cars a year is peanuts for the Germans.

[XR8putts]

I'm not very clued up on this situation, but this idea keeps coming to me..

Wouldn't the simple answer be for the Government to heavily tax imported vehicles. (Korea & Japan) - Forcing the currently cheaper $RRP of the Asian models up, making the Aussie products cheaper, and thus more attractive.

I believe this is a viable solution, it would sure as hell turn the situation around real fast, and I believe the Government would do it as it would save 10,000+ Aussie jobs. It would be very unpopular, but with the asians - and who gives a toss. Your government needs to put the locals first.

I'd be happy for someone to rip my theory apart, like I said, I'm ignorant on this topic and would like to know why it hasn't been considered.

Cheers.

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by puts99

I'm not very clued up on this situation, but this idea keeps coming to me..

Wouldn't the simple answer be for the Government to heavily tax imported vehicles. (Korea & Japan) - Forcing the currently cheaper $RRP of the Asian models up, making the Aussie products cheaper, and thus more attractive.

I believe this is a viable solution, it would sure as hell turn the situation around real fast, and I believe the Government would do it as it would save 10,000+ Aussie jobs. It would be very unpopular, but with the asians - and who gives a toss. Your government needs to put the locals first.

I'd be happy for someone to rip my theory apart, like I said, I'm ignorant on this topic and would like to know why it hasn't been considered.

Cheers.

Great idea.


Mmmmm lets see...........I know we'll call that tax a "Tariff" !!