Ford Australia has announced around 400 redundancies in vehicle design and development, representing more than 20% of its remaining workforce in these areas.
We understand that today’s announcement covers approximately 320 paid jobs and 45 hourly employees. The workers mainly work on Ford’s product design and development team based in Melbourne and at the You Yangs test site near Geelong, plus “a small number doing other functions”.
The decision was made about two months later the company made 170 . more redundancy in these regions, on April 27.
The cut in April was attributed to attrition related to the end of the Ranger and Everest development cycles, while today’s price cut was attributed to internal cost-cutting, or “Ford’s global effort”. to improve efficiency”.
Ford says Australia remains the global center of design and development for the Ranger ute and Everest SUV – both of which are new to new generations and often have long life cycles.
The people involved in the matter said auto expert much of the work will be outsourced to India.
“We have commenced consultations with employees and unions regarding our intention to offer segregation schemes to approximately 400 of our 1800 employees in Australia,” Ford Australia told us in a statement. statement when asked.
“The majority of this will go to product design and development, with a small number devoted to other functions. These changes are part of Ford’s global effort to improve efficiency and transform its operations to meet future needs.
“Australia will continue to be the center of growth for Ranger and Everest globally.”
Today’s (and April’s) announcements follow more cuts in August 2022 for Ford Australia’s workforce, which at the time focused on around 120 contract employees – again as the pre-launch Ranger and Everest development cycle had come to an end.
However, by the end of 2022, Ford said it will continue to contribute “broadly” to future global programs. The brand has invested $12 million in an expanded design studio in Melbourne, opening in 2021, and has previously announced that it invests around $500 million a year in its operations.
At the February 2021 announcement of Ford’s new design studio in Melbourne, the company claimed to have more than 2500 engineers, designers, technical and automotive experts.
Ford Australia designers and engineers also worked on various products for China, India and South America that were never sold here, including the previous generation Escort and Taurus for China market.
