Economy Thread

[Highinthesky]

They interviewed the CAW rep for the St Thomas plant on CBC radio on Thursday and he said a couple hundred of the employees has been transferred to other Ford plants in N/A, Oakville being one. He also said a significant amount for eligible or retirement so its not a direct 1200 hit from Ford. A good has been mentioned about parts suppliers in the area, Lear being one. However the Lear plant has also already been purchased by a new company.

The problem with the St Thomas Ford Plant is that it is a fixed line production facility meaning they could only build cars on one platform. All the new plants can built several different platforms on the same line making them more flexible and responsive to market situations. That is what killed St Thomas, it just wasn't economically feasible to spend the money to upgrade the plant to a more flexible production line.