THE FORD CUTBACKS
1972Alex MitchellCar industry Read the scan at ETOL (PDF) →Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: headlines and words can be misread, and a caption or advert can run into the text. For anything you quote, read the scan.
carefully watched the walk-out at Dagenham when two men were ordered off the line in the body shop.
The management's surprise decision to attack manning caused a sharp backlash, from the production workers. Within hours several thousand men were laid off in the dispute which lasted almost a week. The moves in this microcosmic row were studied in detail by the visiting Americans.
The reaction of the men will be taken into account when the wage negotiations begin in a couple of months' time-six months before the two-year agreement expires.
The annual accounts will set out to blame last year's big strike for the disastrous losses. The strike, however, tells only side of the story. It has now become a scapegoat for a myriad of management moves which have been costly to the company's operations.
Marketing has been particularly poor. Before the strike, Ford's held 28 per cent of the market, but their share is now only 24 per cent. Although only 4 per cent is involved, this means millions of pounds in terms of sales. (The Granada model is doing much better than expected, but the sales came too late to affect last year's figures.)
Another department which has conspicuously failed assist the company's embattled finances is the purchasing This department's job is to buy components from the big suppliers at the best possible price; are paid to executives who achieve the neat deals.
Ford
It is a little-recognized fact that the Ford company only makes 25 per cent of its vehicles-the body, the engine and the transmission.
The other paris-wheels, brakes, seats, windscreens, batteries, etc-are bought from outside firms.
These suppliers, like Pilkington's, Lucas's, Girling's and GKN, wield a strong influence over the fortunes of the Ford Ford's is unable 'to place orders elsewhere in sufficient quantities. In that sense they are dependent on the profits'And if they go on strike too long, we can cut our Insses and close the whole bloody thing' main models-Escort, Capri, Cortina and Granada.
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