Posted by Arno Maierbrugger on July 4, 2012
Ford’s car plant in Santa Rosa, Philippines, will close down by the end of 2012 after 14 years of operation.
The world’s second largest car maker, Ford Motor Company, has announced that it will close its assembly plant in Santa Rosa in the Philippines later this year as part of a restructuring drive in the ASEAN region.
"The company studied every possible scenario and opportunity, but we could not make a strong enough business case for future manufacturing," said Randy Krieger, Ford Group Philippines president, in a statement released on June 27.
Ford said that the closing is part of cost-cutting efforts, but has also to do with supply problems in the Philippines.
According to Ford Motor Co ASEAN president Peter Fleet, the company has been looking for the past 18 months for new vehicles that could be assembled in the Philippines. However, the lack of scale in terms of supply base and existing facilities proved to be the biggest hurdle in the company’s decision to invest further in the Philippines, he said.
Ford has originally set up the car plant in 1998 by investing $270 million to build 36,000 vehicles annually. The closing of the plant will lead to 250 job losses, but will also affect thousands of jobs in the supply chain industry and in parts manufacturing.
Earlier this year, Ford has opened a new $450 million plant in Rayong, Thailand, The auto maker’s Southeast Asian headquarter is in Bangkok.
