Best of 2012, #8: Vehicle Manufacturing in Australia
Here at Business Review Australia, we like to aggregate a wide selection of news stories and feature contributions that may range from national and global headlines and market trend analysis, to business tips and those “Only in Australia” types of stories (spider inhabitation, Apple Maps fiascosand marijuana use, oh my!)
As our farewell to 2012, over the next couple weeks, we will re-release the Top 10 stories and trending topics that grabbed your attention across our website, magazines and social platforms. Enjoy!
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Toyota slashes 350 jobs; another 3,000 are at risk, Published on 24 January 2012
January bloomed bright for the Australian manufacturing industry, whose 2.4 point increase on the Performance of Manufacturing Index at the end of last year suggested industry expansion in the near future.
Unfortunately, the uptick may have been the last bit of good news for the industry: Toyota Australia cut 350 workers from its Melbourne manufacturing plant yesterday, and another 3,000 automotive industry jobs are at risk of being made redundant, according to the Herald Sun.
“This is the beginning of the end of the manufacturing industry in Australia,” Australian Manufacturing Workers Union representative Charlie Marmara told the newspaper.
According to reports released this morning by Nine MSN, the rising Aussie dollar and declining demand contributed to Toyota’s decision to slash jobs at the plant. In Victoria, the manufacturing industry employs approximately 300,000 people.
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Ford Australia Cuts 212 Jobs, Published on 16 November 2012
Back in July, we reported that Ford Australia would cut 440 workers from their Broadmeadows plant and slow daily production from 209 to 148 vehicles.
Today, 118 voluntary redundancies and various in-house transfers have resulted in 212 workers losing their jobs.
According to The Australian, 110 job cuts were spared when Ford was able to place some workers in product development and taking Ford Performance Vehicles in-house beginning in 2013.
Still, the efforts were not enough.
“Unfortunately, as we didn't achieve the required number of redundancies voluntarily, the company is moving ahead with a compulsory redundancy program,” said Ford Australia spokeswoman Sinead Phipps in a company statement.
“Despite our best efforts, it will be a very difficult day for the entire Ford team.”
