Over the next few days, thousands of Ford Motor Co. Salaried workers will be let go, most of them in Michigan, as the company continues to cut costs and restructure and transform its business model.
In a memo sent to about 31,000 Ford employees in North America on Monday, Executive Chairman Bill Ford and CEO Jim Farley explained that Ford will reduce its salaried workforce by 2,000 “to deal with all aspects of costs – from materials to quality.” 1,000 agency employees in the US, Canada and India.
Most of the cuts will be in the U.S. Ford spokesman Mark Truby told the Free Press, “The majority of our employees are in Michigan, so a significant percentage of the job cuts are in Michigan.”
Ford has been restructuring its operations over the past two years, including splitting into divisions focused on electric vehicles, internal combustion vehicles and commercial sales. It is part of the Ford+ program.
The eliminated jobs are not in any specific part of the company, Truby said. Ford chose which jobs to eliminate “based on a holistic view of the needs of the business.”
But Truby said the move was not related to fears of a recession and would not affect Ford’s June announcement that it would invest $2 billion to create 3,200 union jobs in Michigan. It employs nearly 2,000 people at three assembly plants. Electric F-150 Lightning Pickup.
“So net-net we’re adding more jobs to Michigan,” Truby said. “It’s a realignment because those jobs we talked about adding were hourly workers. The jobs we’re talking about today are white-collar jobs. On an absolute basis, if you look at both duties, we’re still adding employment in Michigan.”
‘Difficult and emotional time’
In the memo, Ford and Farley explained that Ford looked at each team’s “transformation work report tied to our Ford+ program” and eliminated, reorganized and simplified tasks across the automaker. Ford managers will provide more specifics to employees later this week, the memo said.
“None of this changes the fact that it was a difficult and emotional time,” Ford and Farley wrote. “The individuals leaving the company this week are friends and colleagues and we want to thank them for all they have contributed to Ford.”
Truby said Ford is working closely with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to help layoffs find other jobs, noting that people are now being hired.
In fact, several companies in Detroit, including Ford, Rivian and Rocket Mortgage, have a free career fair Tuesday at the Novi Imagine Theater from 8:30 a.m. to noon for layoffs. Seven companies will be hiring at the event, including Pros, Harley Davidson and Lordstown Motor, which will bring their recruiting teams, said Matthew Karandja, vice president of sales for the engineering recruiting firm that organized the fair. LER Techforce.
The job cuts, Truby said, “are not a reaction to fears of a recession or concerns about the economy.” “It’s really positioning the company for success, delivering our program and keeping our costs down.”
Cost cutting and restructuring
Ford has been working on its Ford+ program for a few years. In March, the automaker announced an aggressive plan to split the company into divisions: Ford Pro to focus on its commercial business, Ford Blue, which will focus on the traditional internal combustion engine, and Ford Model e, which makes battery EVs and plug-ins.
The idea is to help the 119-year-old automaker stay more competitive against Tesla, the industry’s biggest electric vehicle rival, and crosstown rival General Motors, which plans to offer a zero-emission lineup by 2035.
Truby said Ford is investing $50 billion over the next few years to develop electric and connected vehicles. But he doesn’t know the exact savings Ford will achieve with these latest job cuts.
“What we’ve said in the past is that over the next few years, we want to reduce our overall infrastructure costs by $3 billion,” Truby said.
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Jamie L. LaReau: J[email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more General Motors And our record Auto Newsletter. Become a subscriber.
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