Jobs go at holden

[doms1]

HOLDEN will axe dozens of casual workers from its Elizabeth assembly plant as it battles falling car sales and increasing costs.

GM Holden managing director Mike Devereux will visit the plant tomorrow to make an official announcement.

Premier Jay Weatherill was briefed about the job losses by the company this morning.

Mr Weatherill this afternoon confirmed the job losses will affect casual and temporary workers.

All the jobs lost are in the general assembly area.

Mr Weatherill would not say how many jobs would go, leaving that to Holden to announce.

A Holden spokeswoman has told AdelaideNow the announcement is "a relatively small announcement".

But AdelaideNow understands the second shift will be wound back and General Motors was discussing the plan when Mr Weatherill held talks in the United States in his bid to secure the carmaker's future in Adelaide.

A Holden spokeswoman said the company would be talking to its employees at Holden Vehicle Operations over the coming 12 to 18 hours.

"Our number one priority is always to talk to our employees first, on any issue, so we can't comment in the media until this is complete," she said.

About 2500 of GM Holden's 4000 employees work at the Elizabeth plant which has been producing about 400 Commodore and Cruze models each day under the two shift arrangement.

The second shift, which began in November 2010, created 80 new jobs and secured full-time employment for the rest of manufacturing workers.

GM Holden is in negotiations with the State and Federal Government for "significant" funds - estimated at up to $200 million - to maintain manufacturing at the Elizabeth plant and secure jobs in the northern suburbs.

[dmacey]

It's a major disappointment!

My thoughts go out to the people who are about to be shafted.

Dave

[Darren]

Holden will introduce a new shift pattern at its vehicle manufacturing operations in South Australia to improve productivity and manage the impact of the high Australian dollar.

While most areas of Holden Vehicle Operations will continue to operate on two shifts, Holden will introduce a single shift in General Assembly which will maintain production volume, and reduce costs and production time per vehicle.

Holden will move to a new 60-second production cycle by May this year giving Holden the capability to produce up to 400 vehicles a day.

The new production schedule will also assist the line operators to better manage complexity and help improve build quality.

GM Holden Chairman and Managing Director, Mike Devereux, today said the General Assembly change was critical to ensure Holden remained globally competitive.

“Holden has set a very clear business strategy to grow sustainably, lower its cost base and make a small car in Elizabeth to ensure we are profitable on domestic production,” he said.

“Our results show what a success this has been for the industry. In 2011 Holden made around 90,000 vehicles, up more than 35 per cent or 24,000 units compared to the previous year, with the growth driven largely by the Cruze hatch and sedan.”

Mr Devereux said Holden would maintain current production volume with the single shift but the high dollar would limit further growth from exports in 2012.

“With these tough economic conditions it’s our obligation to our people, and those that invest with us, to build a sustainable business and to continuously improve productivity.

“At the current exchange rate we won’t be able to realise further growth in our export programs so the shift changes allow us to maintain production levels and do it more efficiently.”

Mr Devereux said the reconfiguration was designed to minimise impact on employees who have been advised of the changes being introduced.

“Holden currently draws on a small pool of fixed term contractors and casual labour to help manage peaks and troughs in production, and these will be gradually reduced over the next 12 months.

“No voluntary or forced redundancies for permanent Holden employees are expected as result of the shift changes,” he said.

Source - Holden Media

[Rufys]

To be expected really.

[Westie]

Lets hope holden arent pricks about it all!

[Full Spectrum]

Could be worse. You could be a bank.

[zapper-l67]

I think the Biggest problem that Holden has, Is the product they are making no longer suits the market.
If we look back to the 70's at the start of the energy crises, Holden was making the HQ - HZ series. Sales dropped off because the car was to large, and cost to much on fuel.
The Holden Torana's sales surpassed the larger bodied HZ Basic model car in its last year of production.

Then we look at the release of the VB - VL Commodore, Were Holden took back the market lead with a smaller compact but still roomy fuel efficient car.
Holden then dropped the marginally smaller Torana from is line up through dwindling sales in faviour of the slightly larger smarter looking Commodore package.
Then we look at the VN - VS series, A somewhat larger car than the VB - VL series with a better more powerful, better fuel economical engine/trans package.
Then we look at the VT - VZ series, A somewhat larger car again than the VN - VS series, with no real improvement in economy or power from the previous model.
Then we look at the VE series, An even larger car again than the VT - VZ series, with no real improvement in economy or power from the previous model.

The Mazda 3 leads the way with the higher market share of new car sales, and Holden management is asleep at the wheel again.
What Australians want and need in today's motoring market is a smaller sized rear wheel drive car with a powerful and economic engine/Trans package.

Holden say they have a small car package with the Cruze. But The main stream Aussie Holden buyer doesn't want a small 4 cylinder Asian front wheel drive, They want Rear wheel drive..
They don't want a medium sized front wheel drive care ether or Toyota wouldn't be in the pooper ether..

If Holden wants to stay in business as a serious automotive manufacturer in this country it need to adapt to what the market wants.
Bring back the Torana. A smaller car with a roomy modern interior, with a twin turbo 3.2 liter engine with unsurpassed fuel economy and power.
Whats so hard about that Holden You already have the car that the major 1.2 kid Australian motoring public want. Its currently sold as a SAAB.. Just make the bloody thing for the aussie market and all will be well.


Zapp

[Reaper]

I think the Biggest problem that Holden has, Is the product they are making no longer suits the market.
If we look back to the 70's at the start of the energy crises, Holden was making the HQ - HZ series. Sales dropped off because the car was to large, and cost to much on fuel.
The Holden Torana's sales surpassed the the larger bodied car.

Then we look at the release of the VB - VL Commodore, Were Holden took back the market lead with a smaller compact but still roomy fuel efficient car.

Actually they made a huge mistake and lost the market lead to by going to a smaller bodied car whilst Ford stayed with the larger XD-F body style. All the indicators said go small but the market still bought the larger cars. I'd be interested to see where you got your data re Torana sales vs HQ-Z large cars.

Holden then drop the marginally smaller Torana from is line up through dwindling sales in faviour of the slightly larger smarter looking Commodore package.
Then we look at the VN - VS series, A somewhat larger car than the VB - VL series with a better more powerful, better fuel economical engine/trans package.
Then we look at the VT - VZ series, A somewhat larger car again than the VN - VS series, with no real improvement in economy or power from the previous model.
Then we look at the VE series, An even larger car again than the VT - VZ series, with no real improvement in economy or power from the previous model.

The Mazda 3 leads the way with the higher market share of new car sales, and Holden management is asleep at the wheel again.
What Australians want and need in today's motoring market is a smaller sized rear wheel drive car with a powerful and economic engine/Trans package.

Holden say they have a small car package with the Cruze. But The main stream Aussie Holden buyer doesn't want a small 4 cylinder Chinese front wheel drive.

You say Holden management is asleep at the wheel yet you can't even get your facts right. The Cruze is fwd Australian built with Korean heritage. Other than a few components I'm not sure how you decide it's Chinese. With the growth Hyundai and Kia have had over the last few years, the old "Korean = bad" stigma in Australia is long gone.

The size of the car is actually what Australia wants - it's the direct competitor to the Mazda 3. The Mazda is FWD btw. Holden are very happy with the growth over the last 18 months of the Cruze and with the introduction of the hatch only recently it's expected to challenge the 3 for overall honours. As a combination of the Commodore/Cruze filling up local production capacity I call it a good each way bet by Holden. If they can get 3 - 4k units of both a month + a few exports the Elizabeth plant will be at full capacity (2 shifts) The Omega is now only more or less built to order and now over 40% of all commodores sold (near 60% 0f utes!!!) are V8, the profit to GM per unit is huge. One good thing for Holden is the trend to user chooser company fleets these days. Even though "fleet" sales constitutes a large proportion of Commodore sales, the days of stripped out base model rep-mobiles has gone in the large car sector. The are moving towards your 4cyl camry and Korean type brands.

If Holden wants to stay in business as a serious automotive manufacturer in this country it need to adapt to what the market wants.
Bring back the Torana. A smaller car with a roomy modern interior, with a twin turbo 3.2 liter engine with unsurpassed fuel economy and power.
Whats so hard about that Holden You already have the car that the major 1.2 kid Australian motoring public want. Its currently sold as a SAAB.. Just make the bloody thing for the aussie market and all will be well.


Zapp

Sigh - that car pictured above was built to test market acceptance of (then unseen) VE styling and an exercise of the future Alpha platform. Australia will not build a small RWD car. End of story. At best you might see the Caddilac ATS (?) imported in small numbers but I suspect that's unlikely. Pitty because from what I hear the ATS is a weapon and a half.

Reaper

[Rufys]

Don't you mean CTS? Didn't the ATS get canned?

[Reaper]

It's a major disappointment!

My thoughts go out to the people who are about to be shafted.

Dave

Lol - Holden do what people have been telling them - get better at it, more productive yadda yadda yadda and then they cop it for sacking people they no longer need. They are casuals - ie people employed for short term or high load times. Nothing shafted what so ever that their job goes - it was expected.

Reaper

[zapper-l67]

Yo Reaper I might of got a couple of things wrong in the hast of the post like putting Chinise in stead of Asian with the cruze.
But the fact still remains the the torana out sold the base model HZ in its last year of production.
The main reason ford was still doing well in its larger bodied cars over the VB-VL Commodore was Holdens lack of incite to include a commercial commodore line IE:Ute and Panal van.
They addressed the Ute issue and got back a lot of the commercial market but totally lot there van market to the Japanese vans..

But the fact remain that the Commodore has become to fat for the Australian market. We currently have a small Van for the misses, kids and shopping. But I'm looking for a car to commute to and from work that is small and economic enough to drive in heavy traffic conditions and be sport and spirited enough to enjoy driving and big enough to go for a drive with the family on the weekend.. Unfortunately that not going to be a fat ass Holden VE Commodore.. A torana would be nice but if that not going to happen Then a BMW it is..

Sorry that Holden's not going so well at the moment.
I love Holden and enjoyed employment with the company in an engineering capacity for a number of years.
But They just aren't making the car I/we want to drive.. And I know I'm not alone in that decision.

[Reaper]

Don't you mean CTS? Didn't the ATS get canned?

Been delayed god knows how many times but is go for this year: Cadillac | ATS Luxury Compact Car (MY13, onsale 2012).

Yo Reaper I might of got a couple of things wrong in the hast of the post like putting Chinise in stead of Asian with the cruze.

Your whole premise was wrong. You said that Australians don't want a small Asian (whatever) fwd car. The evidence is that they do! Mazda 3 = Japanese. Carolla = Japanese. Hyundai/kia (2 brands with the largest growth in Australian in recent years = Korean. Cruze = Korean origin with a lot of Australian design input and now made in Australia too.

But the fact still remains the the torana out sold the base model HZ in its last year of production.

Holden canabalized the HZ by introducing the VB during that run, selling both cars side by side. Being old enough to remember (just ), the Commodore was a world better car compared to the HZ when both were new.

The main reason ford was still doing well in its larger bodied cars over the VB-VL Commodore was Holdens lack of incite to include a commercial commodore line IE:Ute and Panal van.

Commercial sales are not included in passenger car sales tallies. Weren't then and aren't now. If the Commodore ute was included now, the VEII would have been most popular car by around 8000units in 2011

Reaper

[1TUFVS]

To be expected really.

Pretty much.

Friend of mine was on the production line and he was waiting for the layoff for a while. Even had a new job lined up for the occasion!