FeedsOfficials optimistic about Ford plan
Officials in the City of Wayne said they’re cautiously optimistic that the Ford Motor Co. Way Forward Plan won’t leave the city way behind.
Amid less than optimal financial forecasts recently, officials from the troubled automaker announced they would accelerate the turnaround effort unveiled in January.
That plan called for idling 14 plants and slashing up to 30,000 factory jobs in the U.S by 2012. Ford has since announced plant closures in Wixom but the three manufacturing facilities in Wayne have not been mentioned.
“I think we’re in fairly good shape,” said Wayne Mayor Al Haidous. “We’ve always had a good relationship with Ford Motor Co. They like being in the city and we like having them here.”
Haidous said he and other city officials did meet with representatives from the motor company last week, but it was about another matter. Still discussions came up about the fate of the plants along Michigan Avenue and another meeting has been scheduled in about five weeks to continue that discussion.
“We should know a few more details after that,” Haidous said.
He said there are plenty of reasons the company would want to keep the plants, which are among the largest in the country. The proximity to the headquarters in Dearborn, the I-275 corridor and location along Michigan Avenue are all positive things, he said.
“Wayne is very strategically located,” he said. “It’s hard to give up a position like that.”
The Michigan Truck Plant manufactures Sport Utility Vehicles such as the Lincoln Navigators and Ford Expedition—large trucks with sales that have lagged in the wake of rapidly increasing gas prices. Haidous said the SUV market is not dead yet, though. The Wayne Stamping and Assembly Plant is the sole North American plant responsible for the Ford Focus, still a brisk seller.
“(Ford) is excited about the future of that car,” Haidous said.
Haidous said that the plants have never been listed by the company as those they intend to idle. Recent improvements at the plant, combined with the good relationship the city has with the company and the UAW should help protect them, too.“I’m reasonably sure that we will be OK at least for the next five or six years,” he said. “After that it depends on the company. If Ford can turn it around, then the City of Wayne will benefit.”
If not, the workforce may suffer a bigger blow than the city tax base. For remains by far the largest taxpayer in the city. Haidous said that it may be possible for the plants, through advancements in technology, could produce the same number or more vehicles with a smaller workforce.
“There’s not much we can do about that,” he said. “It’s technology.”
