Freightliner plans Mexico factory despite layoffs elsewhere

[cyborg]

Nice, real nice



http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003487253_webfreightliner20.html



Freightliner plans Mexico factory despite layoffs elsewhere

DaimlerChrysler's Portland-based Freightliner unit will build a $300 million truck plant in Mexico to meet a surge in long-term demand even as it prepares for as many as 4,000 North America layoffs next year.



The site is in Saltillo, Coahuila, Freightliner said today in a statement. It will be the second Mexico factory for Freightliner, the world's largest truckmaker.



Freightliner is counting on sales to rise after 2007. For next year, company chief Andreas Renschler expects North American truck output may fall 39 percent because 2006 purchases jumped before new U. S. emissions rules boost prices on Jan. 1.



"This news comes as a surprise after their talk about layoffs," said Stephen Pope, a Cantor Fitzgerald analyst in London. "There has to be a major cost advantage or incentive for this plant to get the go-ahead after the layoff. Freightliner may also be easing out of one relatively high-cost area in North America in favor of a lower-cost one. "



Freightliner spokeswoman Amy Sills couldn't immediately be reached for comment.



Renschler said last week 800 employees at a St. Thomas, Ontario, plant already had been told they'll be laid off starting in March. The commercial-vehicles unit has about 25,328 employees at 11 plants in North America. Laid-off workers are eligible for recall.



Groundbreaking for the northern Mexico plant will occur in the second quarter of 2007, and production will begin in 2009, Freightliner said. The factory will be able to produce as many as 30,000 trucks annually and employ 1,600 people.



The site is near a Chrysler automotive plant that produces the half-ton and three-quarter-ton Dodge Ram pickups. Chrysler also operates an engine and stamping plant in Saltillo.



U. S. medium- and heavy-duty truck sales rose 8. 6 percent through October to 480,608 vehicles, according to Automotive News. Freightliner was the biggest seller, at 103,658.

 

[CDonaldson]

I'd be curious as to how many trucks were coming off the lines being produced annually by the 25,328 employees at the 11 plants in N America - it may not be the 103,658 they are claiming as the sales figure, it may be more. The trucks produced vrs the employee count? as compared to the estimates of 30K trucks and 1600 employees? I realize that the new, state of the art, assembly lines being put into the Mexico plant would/could be more productive, but there seems to be an awful big difference in the production/manpower numbers.



Both Canada and the US are taking a big hit here again. The same hit occurred when they built the plant for the 1/2, 3/4 and 1-tons. When Chrysler was an American Corp. at least they supported the workers in the country. DC really has no reason to be loyal to either Canada or the US, they just are in it for the money and getting away from the unions. It really IS a shame that SO many workers will loose their jobs. The eligibility of 'recall' more than likely will not apply to a job in Mexico, so where could they possibly be recalled to?



As not to turn this into a political issue, because that is NOT my intention, I see this as just one more nail in the coffin to better paying jobs and wage scale reductions that will bring the overall gap between minimum wage and overall earnings down, the middle class IS getting closer and closer to extinction. NWO-you bet. The Amero is also getting closer to being in all our pockets.



CD

 

[cyborg]

As much as I don't like ford trucks and the PSD, there is something good coming out of "Ford Country".



http://www.examiner.com/printa-471484~Ford_to_invest_$1_billion_in_six_Michigan_plants.html



DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. will invest $1 billion in six southeastern Michigan plants in exchange for $151 million in tax incentives from the state, the company said Friday.





Details of the investment will be made public on Jan. 4 at a transmission plant in Livonia, one of the facilities to receive the additional cash, according to a Ford news advisory.



Other plants to get new investment include a transmission facility in Sterling Heights; the Wayne Assembly plant, which is likely to make the next generation of the Focus small car; Dearborn Truck assembly, which makes the F-150 pickup and other truck-based vehicles; and the Dearborn and Woodhaven parts stamping plants, the company said.



Ford also is considering added investment at a hybrid vehicle engineering facility in Dearborn, the Romeo Engine plant, a truck plant in Wayne, the Sterling Heights axle plant and Ford's proving grounds in Macomb County's Bruce Township, according to documents filed earlier this year with the Michigan Economic Development Corp. , the state's nonprofit development arm.



The company's filing with the MEDC said the investment will help it retain about 13,740 jobs in the state. The investment comes at a time when Ford is making production cuts to bring its factory capacity in line with lower demand for its cars and trucks. The jobs pay an average of $960 per week, Ford said in its filing with the MEDC.



Ford will get tax breaks over a 20-year period from the state, and it is seeking tax incentives from local governments as well. The company said its investment in Michigan could exceed $1 billion in the next five to seven years.



Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, will announce the details in January, the company's statement said.



Ford shares rose 11 cents, or 1. 5 percent, to $7. 42 on the New York Stock Exchange.



Ford on Sept. 15 announced a plan to cut $5 billion in annual costs by the end of 2008 by slashing 10,000 white-collar workers and offering buyouts and early retirement packages to all 75,000 of its unionized employees. About 38,000 hourly workers have signed up for the exit packages, and 8,000 workers took previously announced packages. The company plans to shutter 16 plants through 2008 as its share of the U. S. market drops to 14 percent or 15 percent.



Fields has said the company believes in Michigan, which is home to its headquarters and multiple research, design, engineering and manufacturing facilities.



Analysts have said Ford would have had to make the investments with or without the state's help in order to make its plants flexible enough to turn out new models more quickly.



Ford lost $7 billion during the first nine months of this year and has said it does not expect to return to profitability until sometime in 2009.

 

[SMorneau]

I agree it is a shame. But it's probably better to just move the business to Mexico instead of employing illegal workers here. At least we don't have to have to subsidize the illegals in the schools, healthcare, etc.



I get plenty sick and tired of watching contractors get rich by hiring Mexicans and crying about wages the entire time they are making big $$$$.

 

[DMC]

<Quote>

The company's filing with the MEDC said the investment will help it retain about 13,740 jobs in the state. The investment comes at a time when Ford is making production cuts to bring its factory capacity in line with lower demand for its cars and trucks. The jobs pay an average of $960 per week, Ford said in its filing with the MEDC.





And The Big three are actually wondering why sales are off. With all of the big corporations exporting all of the skilled jobs to foreign lands. Middle class Americans don't have the money to spend. With all of the illegal immigrants working for 1/3 to 1/2 of scale in the construction trades, even more people are stripped of their jobs. With all of this going on I would imagine that the buy American loyalty is going by the wayside.



Big Business had better wake up, and take care of the the people that got them to were they are now. I know that profits were highter in the first 10 years after NAFTA went through. But it seems to me that they are pulling back now due to poor domestic sales of all products.



Heres a little food for thought. What would the outcome of world war two had been if we hadn't had all of the skilled tradesmen and craftsman, in the varoius plants that built arms related products for the war effort. What if in the future our friendly foreign entities refuse to retool to build arms and tanks for a war effort in say 10 years from now. What will we then do when we don't have the plants we have today? How will we meet the demand to sustain a war if something like WW2 comes along. I would hate to place the fate of the US in the hands of NATO. By the way most of the NATO countries wants small arms ownership by ordinary citizens to be a thing of the past. Hmmmmm why is that?



Bruce Ford, Are you listening????????

 

[ezcurra]

<Quote>



Heres a little food for thought. What would the outcome of world war two had been if we hadn't had all of the skilled tradesmen and craftsman, in the varoius plants that built arms related products for the war effort. What if in the future our friendly foreign entities refuse to retool to build arms and tanks for a war effort in say 10 years from now. What will we then do when we don't have the plants we have today? How will we meet the demand to sustain a war if something like WW2 comes along. I would hate to place the fate of the US in the hands of NATO. By the way most of the NATO countries wants small arms ownership by ordinary citizens to be a thing of the past. Hmmmmm why is that?



Bruce Ford, Are you listening????????

I just bought a book on aircraft manufacturing during World War II. After being utterly fascinated with the awesome pictures of B17, B24 or B29 assembly lines, spitting out complete planes every few hours, I noticed where the book had been printed. In China



I´m not even an American (I´m a Spaniard), but this saddens me to no end. And the same is happening in the rest of the "industrialized" western world.

 

[smd]

I`ll second that plus..

I agree it is a shame. But it's probably better to just move the business to Mexico instead of employing illegal workers here. At least we don't have to have to subsidize the illegals in the schools, healthcare, etc.



I get plenty sick and tired of watching contractors get rich by hiring Mexicans and crying about wages the entire time they are making big $$$$.

How funny is this, US auto makers moving to Mexico while Honda Toyota ect are building in and employing the US work force. And the Big 3 are wondering why sales are down. A lot of folks realize that Honda ect. . are made in AMERICA... ... .....

 

[SMorneau]

IMO, the US automakers have done precious little for the American worker/consumer. I get sick when I think of all of the Ford advertising over the years showing trucks being driven off road on pristine mountain ranges and such and then reading where William Clay Ford has given huge summs of money to interests, like the Sierra Club, that would ban us from ever leaving the pavement. As consumers we allow and encourage this BS to happen and we look the other way and then buy more of their products.



I bought my last Miller beer a few months back when I realized they were undermining my wishes by supporting pro-illegal imigration rallies. I intend to use my dollar as a weapon but I fear it will do little good if others do not do the same. I will continue to show loyalty to those good old American manufacturers who build new plants in our country, you know, Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, etc. who show a little faith in the American worker. I will not be buying a truck made in Mexico.



Hang on though things are on the road, super nafta highway actually, to getting a whole lot worse!



Scott

 

[cyborg]

The Toyota strategy is quite complex.
It's a trick: If they build a better truck, here in america, using american workers, in american factorys, paying american taxes, americans will buy them. Hmmm.

Where as Ford, DC and GM believe that no matter what they do, no matter how krappy their trucks (vehicles) are, brand loyalty and the illusion of buying american, will carry them through.

The first one of the big three to knock off the smoke and mirrors of NAFTA and global production, and come home to stay will win the U. S. market and become the "Big One". In turn, it will sell globally.

Now which one is best poised to do that?

My thoughts, not yours.....