wixom22 Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 Rumors on the floor at Wixom: Is that Wixom will remain open and that Atlanta, St louis ,and St Thomas will close. Is anyone else hearing this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len_A Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 Rumors on the floor at Wixom: Is that Wixom will remain open and that Atlanta, St louis ,and St Thomas will close. Is anyone else hearing this? People I know, that claim to know what going on within the Research & Engineering Center, still say that Wixom is toast. I guess we won't find out until January. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ooo14 Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 I doubt that Ford would close Atlanta. However you never can be too sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedhvac Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 I doubt that Ford would close Atlanta. However you never can be too sure. The Atlanta plant is sitting on prime property and Ford could make a lot money selling off the Atlanta property. Detroit is Henry Ford's domain and Ford will regroup and keep Detroit strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Bennet Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 Rumors on the floor at Wixom: Is that Wixom will remain open and that Atlanta, St louis ,and St Thomas will close. Is anyone else hearing this? TCAC and SLAP are toast take it to the bank I though Wixom was toast too and AAP was golden but what I hear is pretty close to what you got Wixom lives!?!? It will be hard to find out this week but I will try to confirm new life at Wixom The Towncar is still going to St Thomas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ooo14 Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 Who would buy that land? Delta? Fulton county? The state of GA? Ford could easily upgrade AAP. The plant currently can produce 250000+ QUALITY units. Ford needs to keep a presence in the south. I do not want either plant to close, but unfortuneatly when I worked at Wixom, they did not build the highest quality vehicles. It was a fairly regular occurance for the final line to stop because the garage was full of cars that needed to be repaired. When I came to AAP I hated it. I felt like it was a step back in time. Now 3 years later I love this plant. We build the best cars with the least amount of people. I dread the thought of moving back to MI, and dealing with those crappy roads and bad winters. I hope that something can be worked out so that both plants can stay open. Unfortuneatly It is not up to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len_A Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 The Atlanta plant is sitting on prime property and Ford could make a lot money selling off the Atlanta property. Detroit is Henry Ford's domain and Ford will regroup and keep Detroit strong. The property that Wixom is sitting on is worth quite a bit, Ford is still pissed at the City of Wixom over that property tax dispute from a few years ago, and Automotive News is reporting that all work on the two Lincolns and the two "people movers" has been halted while Ford reassesses everything. Now they "cannot get comfortable with the return they'll get on the three Lincoln products". Everything related to those four vehicles is on hold. And Chicago may not have the capacity for those products either, because some of Ford's field sales people have been told that Freestyle is staying in the lineup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazybutskilled Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 (edited) B) Wixom has a shot, the contractors have definitly stopped in Atlanta, my source says! Top brass are mum about why. Im told it will remain hush about Atlanta until Ford gets health care concessions and gets to close Plants before 07 like GM.Funny timing, we are currently dismantling & taking out the T Bird buck, and other stuff to go into the Ford hand-me-down bucket. Sure frees up space to give tours on how we could use the floor space.Never say never! And remember , Im always right! Edited November 22, 2005 by lazybutskilled Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imawhosure Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heywood Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 I hope it stays open. For my own selfish reasons, I want a new 2006 Lincoln LS, and I need the plant open so they can build it! But aside from that, it's a great facility with a lot of history building great cars (especially Lincolns!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footballfan Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 (edited) B) Wixom has a shot, the contractors have definitly stopped in Atlanta, my source says! Top brass are mum about why. Im told it will remain hush about Atlanta until Ford gets health care concessions and gets to close Plants before 07 like GM.Funny timing, we are currently dismantling & taking out the T Bird buck, and other stuff to go into the Ford hand-me-down bucket. Sure frees up space to give tours on how we could use the floor space.Never say never! And remember , Im always right! That is what I am hearing too. Kind of makes you think that Ford workers SHOULD NOT ratify any changes to health care unless there are assurances that plants like Atlanta and Wixom will stay open. Look at what happned at GM: health care cuts ratified one week, layoffs and plant closings the next. However, I think that GM would have axed another United States plant instead of Oshawa had concessions not been granted. Edited November 24, 2005 by Footballfan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footballfan Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 More news: The Michigan Department of Transportation last week reinstated the $73 million reconstruction of the Wixom Road interchange off of I-96 as the "jobs now" program. I am sure this amount of money would not have been approved so the demolition crews tearing the Wixom plant down would have a nice new interchange to drive on or for some other non-value-added project for the site such as a shopping center or subdivsion. http://www.detnews.com/2005/commuting/0511/18/A01-386438.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbob Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 Rumors on the floor at Wixom: Is that Wixom will remain open and that Atlanta, St louis ,and St Thomas will close. Is anyone else hearing this? Just to let you know that in st.thomas we just came back from layoff and they have been busy. New robots conveyor system and 35 new battery charge posts for forklifts installed while we were off. I think we missed this round of restructuring anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrballsonya Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 (edited) The fact that things don't sound real good for Atlanta, does absolutely nothing to convince me that Ford will keep Wixom open. I don't think it's a case of Wixom Vs. Atlanta, I think its likely they'll be both axed. Yeah it's great that Granholm finally approved the money to re-do the I-96 - Wixom Rd. interchange, But even if there wasn't a Ford plant in Wixom, with all the new growth eventually they'd have to address it. With Ford no longer being the only game in Town, It seems that the city of Wixom would rather have the plant torn down and redeveloped than stay open. Apparently the city of Wixom feels that they don't get enough revenue from Ford, And that it would be much more lucrative to have multiple developments. If Ford is to get any kind of Incentives to stay, it'll have to be from the State not the City. Oh, and one last thing..... I heard a rumor that That the T-bird Buck and the rights to the T-bird design and Name have been sold to.......... Wal-Mart. The Buck, along with all the other tooling will be shipped to Shanghai, China. Unfortunatley as per Wal-Marts Corporate Dictum the Ford Wixom Maintenance crew initially in charge of the removal of the Buck and tooling, will have to be replaced by illegal mexican immigrants. Wal-mart plans to produce 20,000 WAL-MART Branded T-birds the first year, and in stark contrast to the premium that greedy Ford dealers put on the price of the NEW T-bird, Wal-mart will immediatly start discounting the vehicle...... Just watch for the sign. Suggested retail for the Vehicle will be $9,995 USD's and with the current Chinese currency manipulation and ultra low manufacturing wages paid, Wal-mart expects to make $8,000 USD's on every vehicle sold. It's good to see someone finally making money on a DEW98 platform car. Edited November 22, 2005 by mrballsonya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtpm Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 More news: The Michigan Department of Transportation last week reinstated the $73 million reconstruction of the Wixom Road interchange off of I-96 as the "jobs now" program. I am sure this amount of money would not have been approved so the demolition crews tearing the Wixom plant down would have a nice new interchange to drive on or for some other non-value-added project for the site such as a shopping center or subdivsion. http://www.detnews.com/2005/commuting/0511/18/A01-386438.htm Hummm.... I wonder if it will happen? Jan 2006 there is supposted to be a big announcement about the restructuring of Ford which I think will include the listings of the plant they intend to close and the ones they plan to accel on flex standards. Pretty odd that now that the wixom project is back on so now the only question is when do they plan to do the constructon of the new bridge? And yes I do agree your right that they would not have approved that money for the bridge if the plant was closing for good. Access is critical to the plant. I think they will idle wixom when the road crew begin and tear down the old parts and extend the newer ones. This will save time and money in the long run. And as for the person saying they have no product going to wixom I say this.... If every plant that remains will be set up for flex, why do you need to tool up for a particular plant? You don't need to because all of them will be somewhat the same layout in the end so you have one set rule and are able to make anything you wish at anyone of them. Just looking at a meter shot of DTP and Wixom you can see that they are set up in the same fashion. Only difference is that wixom has older parts that still stand. Final is somewhat seperate from body. That is really the only old part that needs major work and by adding onto LS body. Now it is possible to knock down everything except paint and the LS Body. This is what I think they will do..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butthead Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 Money for bridge is just a carrot on a stick act. The state will have to give up alot more to entice Ford. The money can be given to another project without a problem if things dont work out in the right way. My opinon is that the UAW should make it clear to Ford that they will not even talk about health care concessions until we see their new plan (third). You can not go out and sign a deal and then let them make big time decision about the membership and plants when you hold no leverage. Hell they might say the resturcting will cost 20k jobs and when their done it might be 30k. NO TRUST HERE BABY, THEY AINT YO MAMA. I watched the govenors response to the GM deal and she was shaken, and no its not a bad thing. It makes you a harder person and provides you with a extra boost when needed the next time. She, Bill Ford and Ron still see each other at the Detroit Economic Club and believe they have discussed the impact loosing Wixom will have to this community and yes I do believe history and loyality still mean something when its decision time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranger-dawg Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 TCAC and SLAP are toast take it to the bank I though Wixom was toast too and AAP was golden but what I hear is pretty close to what you got Wixom lives!?!? It will be hard to find out this week but I will try to confirm new life at Wixom The Towncar is still going to St Thomas Ok how do you know that TCAP and SLAP are toast? I hope you can give me a good answer. Thanks' and I will be waiting for your reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_wizard Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 The fact that things don't sound real good for Atlanta, does absolutely nothing to convince me that Ford will keep Wixom open. I don't think it's a case of Wixom Vs. Atlanta, I think its likely they'll be both axed. Yeah it's great that Granholm finally approved the money to re-do the I-96 - Wixom Rd. interchange, But even if there wasn't a Ford plant in Wixom, with all the new growth eventually they'd have to address it. With Ford no longer being the only game in Town, It seems that the city of Wixom would rather have the plant torn down and redeveloped than stay open. Apparently the city of Wixom feels that they don't get enough revenue from Ford, And that it would be much more lucrative to have multiple developments. If Ford is to get any kind of Incentives to stay, it'll have to be from the State not the City. Both getting the Axe ? Has my vote. Getting money for Infrastructure is never a problem for this company if only this state or for that matter country were the only one ready to throw money at Ford,GM,DCX or for that matter Toyota,Honda, Nissan for Jobs. But other's are waiting in line all around the world to give this company some kind of break with monies in hand and promises of cheap labor and Infrastructure improvements. Probably the single most incentive to help keeping jobs in American would be the restructuring of the tax code to strip out all embedded taxes in the manufacturing of a product. Perhaps going to the Fair Tax system would be better for manufactures and employees, where all taxes are provided to the Government thru ONLY a SALES TAX and NO OTHER METHOD, no income , stock dividend tax,property,inheritance. If you're interested you can read more on this at Fair tax Now why would i sugguest taxes ? because Ford buy materials or products to put into their cars those are taxed thru out the whole system until the moment of sale (known as embedded taxes) then they are added to the price of that car inflating the cost of that car to the consumer by at least twenty three percent. But what good is a plant if you don't have the product that's selling to push thru it ? The first thing you need is to have a hot product and that is where Ford is lacking not in securing funds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 Ok how do you know that TCAP and SLAP are toast? I hope you can give me a good answer. Thanks' and I will be waiting for your reply. Why keep them? They are both redundant plants. The only thing they're waiting on at TCAP is a Ranger redesign so they can move it to Louisville with the Explorer. With the volumes down on both the Explorer and Ranger so significantly, it's just plain silly to keep THREE plants open to build them when ONE could now do the job. It's not like there's enough new product coming down the line to keep SLAP or TCAP busy either. Ford's having a hard enough time just trying to figure out what product to stick into Wixom or Atlanta to keep THOSE running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imawhosure Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 I wish we could sell enough product so they all could stay open, but at my age I no longer believe in Santa Claus. While I am disheartened, I am most interested in seeing if they go to system seniority; which from a business perspective would be very smart, as long as GEN and the other programs go bye, bye. I won't go into why it would be an intelligent business decision, but if it is, you better believe Ford is going to push for it........and probably get it. That changes everything; more than everything has already changed. It no longer will be AS important who stays open or who closes, but who wants to go where, and where they can go.......or if they have enough time to go anywhere at all. If you think not, the airline industry has it, as well as many other manufacturers throughout the country. As I said, it should be interesting, and I think it will probably surprise alot of people how it shakes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamCaan Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 As I said, it should be interesting, and I think it will probably surprise alot of people how it shakes out. Atlanta and Norfolk plants are both in right-to-work states maybe Toyota will pay Ford lots of money to purchase these plants and jobs will be saved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Bennet Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 Ok how do you know that TCAP and SLAP are toast? I hope you can give me a good answer. Thanks' and I will be waiting for your reply. How can I put anything that will convince you up here without getiing fired? there is an office back in Dearborn that decides which products go to which plants The Next Ranger (if it ever comes) will be very similar to Sport trac and Explorer, excpet for IR One plant is already tooled for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footballfan Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 From the mouths of babes: I found this article from one of the Wixom area's local papers. While it is three months old, it does present some interesting facts such as how Ford was lobbying Michigan for a new interchange (which was formally approved last week), how Ford told city officials they are looking for new product for the plant, and how state-of-the art the plant is: http://www.observer-eccentric.com/apps/pbc...=73227352153606 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stap1520 Posted November 24, 2005 Share Posted November 24, 2005 (edited) That is what I am hearing too. Kind of makes you think that Ford workers SHOULD NOT ratify any changes to health care unless there are assurances that plants like Atlanta and Wixom will stay open. Look at what happned at GM: health care cuts ratified one week, layoffs and plant closings the next. However, I think that GM would have axed another North American plant instead of Oshawa had concessions not been granted. Oshawa is IN NORTH AMERICA...not sure if you meant another US plant... Oshawa is in ONtario Canada Rumors on the floor at Wixom: Is that Wixom will remain open and that Atlanta, St louis ,and St Thomas will close. Is anyone else hearing this? What source do you have that St Thomas will close? Stap has a contract with no closures until at least 2008 and over $200 million investment going into the grand marquis in /07/'08 are you just throwing out rumors? or do you know something we donts I can see St Thomas closing sometime in the next 5 to 10 years though if they dont get a new product or flex plant. we do have about 600 acres of land Ford owns around the facility and its a good quality producing plant, it was also the #1 large car producing plant on the harbour reports...way ahead of any other in North America. Edited November 24, 2005 by stap1520 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bored Posted November 24, 2005 Share Posted November 24, 2005 (edited) Rumors on the floor at Wixom: Is that Wixom will remain open and that Atlanta, St louis ,and St Thomas will close. Is anyone else hearing this? Not exactly. Word came down today that the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis life has been extended until the 2012 model year with production continuing on at STAP. With all the new robots they have been putting in at STAP it would not require a large investment to built the Town Car, so the Town Car will be moving to St Thomas. This isn't to say that Wixom will stay open or close, but after the current UAW contract expires, they won't have the Town Car. They only way that Wixom can stay open is if they get a new model line. There are no new model lines. Edited November 24, 2005 by bored Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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