In the department of canary-in-the-coal mine… .
Ford Motor said it plans to cut 10 percent of its salaried employees in North America and Asia to cut costs amid slowing sales and growing investments in new technology.
The automaker will offer voluntary early retirement and special separation packages to roughly 1,400 white-collar workers in the two regions combined and expects the cuts to come by the end of September. Ford said nearly all of its “skill teams” will be affected, except for product development, Ford Credit, manufacturing, IT and global data and analytics.
“We remain focused on the three strategic priorities that will create value and drive profitable growth, which include fortifying the profit pillars in our core business, transforming traditionally underperforming areas of our core business and investing aggressively, but prudently, in emerging opportunities,” the company said in a statement.
“Reducing costs and becoming as lean and efficient as possible also remain part of that work, including plans to reduce 10 percent of our salaried costs and personnel levels in North America and Asia Pacific this year, using voluntary packages.”
The buyouts are part of a strategy Ford laid out last September at its investor day conference, when CFO Bob Shanks said the automaker would be looking to save about $3 billion per year each of the next three years as costs rise. He said at the time the “efficiencies” would come in materials, suppliers and manufacturing headcount.
The Wall Street Journal originally reported the intended cuts, and Reuters later clarified roughly how many and where the cuts would come.
Ford said it will give employees details on the buyout packages in June.
Over on the DHUnplugged podcast they brought up the fact that Ford was hiring not too long ago.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/03/28/trump-said-ford-will-invest-at-three-michigan-auto-plants/
Make ‘Merica great again!
The big economic explosion sending us all to the soup kitchen line isn’t going to happen. The biggest bully ever will manage to keep everybody’s belly full…..of frijoles and rice. The worst off will just eat it and some will grow some peppers to spice it up.
But this is what we’ve been coming to a long time and like Ross said, that giant sucking sound wasn’t loud enough to overcome the MSM and we’ve been slowly starving ourselves for decades but our belly’s were full….for the most part.
Ideologically, we’re sitting on empty but the public skool has gradually silenced the youngest crowd(s). Once my generation is gone gone, like, as in all of us or close enough, nobody else will be left with memories of real freedom.
I don’t recall anyone in my graduating class at HS who did anything to stop the war….except me. I’m probably the only one with a big file at the federal level. And they never forget and never quit making you pay. Believe I will, believe I’ll have another cold one.
I remember my dad facing these types of layoffs at the end of his 45 year career with the phone company. I think his actual retirement was actually one of these “deals”. I suppose its somewhat better then just getting the boot with nothing. But not by much. Yuck…….
But it’s always the same thing. It’s “offered” to those with 30+ years with a company, or if your in your late 50’s and early 60’s. It’s designed to push those making the most money out the door a bit early. Of course they forget they are also pushing hundred of years of valuable, but hard to quantify, experience out the door as well.
It’s even hard for those with that experience to quantify. It’s like the character Tom in Office Space, you get second guessed by busy body management, and it’s upsetting and you can’t defend yourself. Sometimes some of that experience is only useable at the company they are being pushed out of too.
My dad was one of the last ones out the door at Bethlehem Steel in Johnstown. He was kept around to shut the doors and turn out the lights.
The other thing that goes away with the layoffs is the corporate culture and sense of history. When the only thing new hires ever learn about the company comes from an orientation video, there isn’t going to be much loyalty either.
No layoffs in the credit department. Not with the innovative 7 year loan for a car.
I think every business eventually becomes a bank. GE being the perfect example. They’re a bank that happens to make jet engines. IBM was once a computer rental company, then became a bank. These days they don’t do much of anything aside from “consult” (another lucrative industry). Ally bank was the major profit center of GM for ever.
Apple figured out that renting phones was a better deal than selling them. Pretty soon the cellular industry will figure out that if they start charging interest for their phone financing and lowering their advertised monthly price for service profits will skyrocket (and people won’t bother to see how much they’re being screwed on interest).
They are moving us to a rental economy. Serfdom. The king owns everything and the serfs rent it. Get out of line and the king takes it all back. Keep your nose to the grindstone and keep being productive or you’ll lose your job and everything else.
I just don’t understand why so few see it being built and even fewer care.
Of course no layoffs in the finance department. That’s where the real money is made. They make more money loaning you the money then building you the vehicle.
At some point they will probably outsource the actual vehicle building part somehow. They buy parts from lots of outside companies, at some point they will figure out the third party assembly line too. Maybe suppliers would supply the labor for installation too.
You mean like Boeing?
Yeah, they are further along on that it seems. Some of the things they are buying from suppliers are pretty big components with lots of assembly done already.