Ford Motor Company has had a decrease in progress in the past decade. "Change or die" is the latest mantra at Ford theses days, overlooked by President of the Americas, Mark Fields, the latest leader of CEO William Clay Ford Jr's bid to turn around his great-grandfather's company. On January 23, Ford reported a profit of around $2 billion but said its key North American auto operation leaked $1.55 billion last year, and project the losses to keep coming in the next two years. In an attempt to regain balance, Ford will be cutting 14 factories and up to 35,000 jobs by the year 2012. Three U.S. assembly plants identified for closing in the next three years are in St. Louis, Wixom, Mich., and Atlanta. Two other assembly plants yet to be determined will also be closed by 2008, while Ford's St. Thomas, Ontario assembly plant, with nearly 2,600 employees, will lose one of its two shifts. The seven other plants to be closed are power train and stamping plants, such as the Batavia, Ohio, transmission plant, with more than 1,700 employees. The cuts represent about 18 to 21 percent of the employees in its North American auto operations. The closings will cut even deeper into U.S. hourly employment of 82,000. Ford is also talking about changing from a culture left overstocked with gas-guzzling SUVs, and replacing it with one focused on making vehicles that customers actually want. Wall Street pushed Ford's share up but still wishes they would make larger cuts, by cutting off their struggling Mercury brand or perennial money-loser Jaguar. Daimler-Chrysler has also joined GM and Ford in slimming down by announcing cutting 6,000 white-collar jobs in the next three years.
The Automotive industry has been under tight grip the last few years. Rising gas prices and c ...