SA Footy

Footy Chick wrote:

The Ash Man wrote:Instead of bailouts why doesn't the state government ONLY buy local cars?

The increasing amount of Camrys with Government plates is ridiculous

Agreed, if our locally made cars are good enough for US police departments and Shieks in Saudi Arabia, I'm sure they're good enough for our pollies

Not just pollies but State Protection, Radar Cars, Police, FACS, etc

The Ash Man wrote:Instead of bailouts why doesn't the state government ONLY buy local cars?

The increasing amount of Camrys with Government plates is ridiculous

Probably not "green" enough.

Dog_ger wrote:What a gamble for the idiots.

Bye Bye GMH at Elizabeth.

Youth has no idea...

Once gone, it's too late guys.

Youth @ Australian Politics = jobs @ New Zealand.

Why can't you see this...?

Mate, I have said sometime ago that GM are doomed in this country. Home long did people think it will last?
Seriously we make big cars that drink plenty of fuel and fuel is becoming ******* expensive!
Add the carbon tax now and geez its a waste of time bailing out these companies as they'll be in the same boat again in a few years time.

I hope it doesnt happen, the General is part of our heritage

GMH will close if Abbott has his way.

There is an inexorable process under way.

GM will close anyway in a few years after the Aussie taxpayer has been milked for a little longer.
All Australian manufacturing will fold in time without tariff barriers, which a re now un-PC and impossible to reintroduce anyway.
(They would increase the price of goods and get the government that reintroduces them thrown out.)

This is the legacy of the Hawke/Keating government that started the process to artificially lower the CPI and maintain the "Accord" with the Unions.
All manufacturing will inevitably move to lower cost environments.
Eventually some one will undercut the Chinese as their standard of living rises - as happened to Japan.

Psyber wrote:Eventually some one will undercut the Chinese as their standard of living rises - as happened to Japan.

Eastern Europe will be the next 'manufacturing' hub of the globe. Once the Chinese work out that good quality demands top dollar.

Psyber wrote:There is an inexorable process under way.

GM will close anyway in a few years after the Aussie taxpayer has been milked for a little longer.
All Australian manufacturing will fold in time without tariff barriers, which a re now un-PC and impossible to reintroduce anyway.
(They would increase the price of goods and get the government that reintroduces them thrown out.)

This is the legacy of the Hawke/Keating government that started the process to artificially lower the CPI and maintain the "Accord" with the Unions.
All manufacturing will inevitably move to lower cost environments.
Eventually some one will undercut the Chinese as their standard of living rises - as happened to Japan.

Which could well be Australia.
I was the last production supervisor at a factory in edwardstown that made clotheslines etc and all the manufacturing is now done in China . In the last 10 years wages in China have gone up about 500%, (from a very low base)they are nowhere near ours but as an example, to make a trampoline at edwardstown we had 9 guys on the line, the chinese had nearly 60. The collective wage bill for that product became pretty close to ours and then you factor in the logistics cost.
With the chinese now having something resembling a middle class, wages will continue to rise and as my former employers are finding out they couldmake some of their products cheaper here than they can in China and they would love to manufacture here again. And Hills aren't the only ones
Only problem with that is, like most other com panies that have gone off shore, they have sold land, plant and equipment so the set up costs would be astronomical. Pretty sure that when Hills bought their edwardstown sight in 1948 it didn't cost them 23 million. Once its gone folks it's not coming back
I think Holden want to stay here because they can see things going full circle they just need some coin to ride out this storm, and what they are after seems a reasonable request for infrastructure upgrades then fair enough IMO, with the caveat that it is not a bottomless pit of money and their is full public disclosure

From what I've heard the move from China to Thailand as the manufacturing base is the current one in this region.
I suspect it will be a long time before there isn't another cheaper country to move to before coming back to Oz.
Perhaps Sudan eventually?

Manufacturing in Australia just died...

02/02/2012.

Its dying tomorrow?

are we using the Mayan calendar?

Dog_ger wrote:Manufacturing in Australia just died...

02/02/2012.

Another media frenzy.....streamlining the operation for better efficiency, couple casuals jobs wont be renewed, and i think i stepped on a worm.

Dont Holden sack all their casuals most years? What I think happens is they smash out too many cars too quick, sack the casuals or cancel a shift until there stock levels get back down to somewhere reasonable, then start re-hiring casuals and re-implementing the cancelled shifts.

I remember about 2-3 years ago, a heap of people got redundancy packages when the afternoon shift was cancelled. Isnt there an afternoon shift back up and running now? I think its just a cycle that will always happen at Holden.

story of my life wrote: but as an example, to make a trampoline at edwardstown we had 9 guys on the line, the chinese had nearly 60.

Ahh the old Playtime line. Spent many shifts sweating it out there!

HH3 wrote:Dont Holden sack all their casuals most years? What I think happens is they smash out too many cars too quick, sack the casuals or cancel a shift until there stock levels get back down to somewhere reasonable, then start re-hiring casuals and re-implementing the cancelled shifts.

I remember about 2-3 years ago, a heap of people got redundancy packages when the afternoon shift was cancelled. Isnt there an afternoon shift back up and running now? I think its just a cycle that will always happen at Holden.

To the best of my knowledge the last 2 years have been the only time Holden have employed casuals, atleast in any numbers.
Smashing out too many cars too early is not what this is about. The employee numbers were built up in anticipation of building cars for export and specifically cars for the US police. With the Aus dollar higher than the american dollar there is no money to be made and hence production quotas fall....and labour requirements drop.

MatteeG wrote:

story of my life wrote: but as an example, to make a trampoline at edwardstown we had 9 guys on the line, the chinese had nearly 60.

Ahh the old Playtime line. Spent many shifts sweating it out there!

That Hills factory at Edwardstown was a ripper. They made everything under the one roof -from cookware to the hoist of course and antennae, ironing boards and even the covers. I had plenty of mates there. Geoff Cathie, Graeme Manuel. Too bad it is a building site these days (I think)