Ford is positioning itself as Australia’s true blue brand – and making no apologies for it.
Chief executive Graeme Whickman stopped short of oi, oi, oi when announcing a host of investments and R&D initiatives this week – including a plan to become Australia’s biggest employer by 2018.
The company will be heavily involved in the development of 20 new global platform cars by 2020.
It claims, its freshly-launched Everest has already seen a $2bn investment into Australia in the last six years – and the Ranger continues to put a big dent in the truck sales stats.
Fiesta and Focus have also seen a significant slice of the blue oval bank balance served up in Australia.
We absolutely are positioning Ford as Australia’s ˜home team,’ Whickman told AutoTalk, as the only automaker that will still fully develop vehicles here. And, we hold up Everest and Ranger as the centrepieces of that work, that includes more than $300 million in R&D investment this year alone.
We will present all of the facts and what we believe are our advantages “ including being the country’s home team “ and let the customer decide.
As the roller doors come down on Australian manufacturing, Ford has chalked a plan that will give local suppliers, dealers, workers and contractors certainty after the factories close.
The plan will see 63 Aussie companies continuing to do business with the company on a global level, and it has added eight new suppliers to its roster for work on future models – mostly in aftermarket parts supply.
Whickman says the Detroit head office didn’t need a big pitch to invest in the Australian operation.
The past 10 years, Ford returned to our roots of being a leading automotive innovator in the spirit of Henry Ford’s early mould for the company, he explains. Before then, we had become a ˜fast follower’ in too many cases. To lead innovation, you have to find the best ideas in the world.
Australia is fertile ground for innovation because it has a highly skilled workforce, great education system, globally recognised university research, a government that spurs innovation and many global companies such as Ford that operate here.
If you look at the talent pool we have here in Australia there was no need to ˜sell’ our team or talent. Detroit recognises the skillsets here in Australia – and the region for that matter – and because of One Ford we’re linked globally so a designer or engineer sitting at our Broadmeadows Asia Pacific Product Development Centre can readily communicate in real-time with our teams in North America and Europe.
In fact, Ford is leaning on the Australian team more and more with new vehicle program work that has led to the team’s recent growth.
Australia’s innovators proved their worth this week with the announcement of Carbon Revolution’s cutting-edge process to mass produce carbon fibre wheels – a world first that’s beaten the likes of Ferrari to the punch.
It’s a ˜great example’ of everything coming together, says Whickman. Carbon research was literally kicked off in a backyard shed by Deakin University students. Their progress spurred the university to stump up for a better lab – with a research partnership with Ford.
At the same time Carbon Revolution was working its own magic on carbon fibre wheel technology, receiving funding from the government innovation and investment fund, of which Ford kicked in $10m.
Ford engineers in Detroit were looking to push innovation with our new Shelby Mustang GT350R performance vehicles, the ex-pat Brit explains, so they scoured the planet for ideas, leading them to meet Carbon Revolution.
That led to Ford using the world’s first mass-produced carbon fibre wheels on a production vehicles. Ford beat to market a number of high-end automakers such as Ferrari, BMW and others who have been looking into the technology. At the same time, Australia and Carbon Revolution beat other countries who similarly have been pushing this but have not been able to crack the code.
There will be 1500 skilled staff employed across design and engineering as the company rolls out changes, and Whickman says Ford is already investing in upskilling many workers to make the jump from the factory floor into other roles.
He is unable to confirm just how many of the Broadmeadows and Geelong workforce will be employed in more advanced roles, saying there is no breakdown of the numbers yet.
We invested with Auto Skills Australia to offer exactly this type of training while, at the same time, investing $10 million in the Geelong Region and Northern Melbourne Innovation and Investment funds to create economic activities in the areas most affected by our manufacturing transition, he says.
These funds already have led to grants to more than 50 companies in these areas that have committed to more new jobs than those that will be lost at our plants.
Whickman admits a sense of personal pride over the work done to employ staff, and of the moves afoot to reposition Ford as a tech centre for the company globally.
I am most proud of how extremely committed our team has been to supporting our key stakeholders “ employees, supplier and dealers “ in transitioning to their new futures. I listed what we have done for employees and suppliers. Ford our dealers and customers, we also have invested significantly to remake our line-up with a new crop of cars, SUVs and trucks with leading fuel economy, safety, technology and quality.
In fact, we will have completely refreshed out entire line-up by 2017 and will continue our product onslaught by launching 20 new or freshened vehicles by 2020. At the same time, we have invested heavily with our dealers to transform our dealership experience with an eye towards the modern approaches you see at Apple and other leaders in customer service.
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