Ford Philippines to close | Bangkok Post: breakingnews

Ford Philippines to close

Published: 27 Jun 2012 at 19.35
Online news:

MANILA : US auto giant Ford said Wednesday it is to close its vehicle assembly plant in the Philippines by the end of the year, with the loss of 360 jobs, as part of an ongoing restructuring across Asia.

The decision will leave the country without a motor vehicle exporter, Ford Group Philippines president Randy Krieger said in a statement."This is a very difficult decision. The company studied every possible scenario and opportunity, but we could not make a strong enough business case for future...

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pitanu
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Discussion 6 : 28 Jun 2012 at 09.066
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DrSmith #D3 the article refers to factory workers, I hardly think communication is a required skill on a factory line! Besides that I think Philippine laborers earn less then Thai's - even though they can speak English to the machines.

Mitrapaap #D4 you are spot on with your assessment, Thailand is the natural gateway for many countries therefore it only makes sense to move production to this zone. Besides 80,000 vehicles exported by Ford Philippines in 10 years is a poor number when you compare to what one Thai car manufacturer manages in a year.
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bkposter
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Discussion 5 : 28 Jun 2012 at 08.535
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"Ford invested $270 million in the 36,000 vehicles per year factory in Santa Rosa, south of Manila that opened in 1999."
Sounds like a lot, but do the math and you will see that the factory ownership cost was about 600 per car, and that might have already been offset with tax breaks that Philippines was offering for the first 10 years.
In my experience the Philippines are very union crazy and union lazy. The government is even more corrupt than Thailand (if that is possible) and the productivity and work ethic very low.
I guess they will turn to another ASEAN country where they still have access to the Phillipine market but new tax breaks, lower labor costs, and better productivity. The production ( 100 cars per day)may be even to picked up in Thailand with little extra cost.
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mitrapaap
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Discussion 4 : 28 Jun 2012 at 08.014
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1. It is normal to move the production close to the market - whenever this is possible.
2. A car manufacturer actually has very few real manufacturing steps in his assembly line, because all the parts are manufactured by contractors and then just assembled (put together) at the car manufacturer's plant. That said, you also need all the suppliers of the parts to be around you. In Thailand these suppliers exist because there are many car brands having their plants here.
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drsmith
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Discussion 3 : 27 Jun 2012 at 23.403
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Philippines labor, due to the fact they all speak English, is much more costly than Thai workers who Ford can hire for US $200 or 6,000 thb per month.
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svenviking
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Discussion 2 : 27 Jun 2012 at 20.562
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If the right people in the Philippines have a meeting with the right people in China and Thailand Im sure there will be a place for manufacturing of cars etc in the Philippines. Forget about the US and trust your regional friends!
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khunbj
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Discussion 1 : 27 Jun 2012 at 19.571
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With all the investments made in Thailand by Ford and the decision to produce also the Fiesta and the new Focus here in Thailand then the factory in the Philliphines became obsolete . This shows how competitive Thailand is , also in the auto production industry .
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