CMI collapses

[BroadyFord]

Just seeing some breaking news online that CMI has collapsed after a buyer for the company couldn't be found. Two factories that supply Ford will shut down.

Ford not returning calls to the media.

Will post more info when I find it.

When will it end re blows to Ford's local manufacturing!

[blueoval]

Excuse my ignorance but what does CMI supply to Ford?

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by blueoval

Excuse my ignorance but what does CMI supply to Ford?

Suspension parts...

[Kryton]

Why should Ford return the medias calls?
The running of CMI has nothing to do with them.

[BroadyFord]

Originally Posted by blueoval

Excuse my ignorance but what does CMI supply to Ford?

Crucial suspension components. CMI was the same company that forced Ford to shut down its plants for a week in April after they (CMI) went into administration.

This is big (and bad).

[Geez Louise]

Perhaps the media want a comment on what effect this will have to Ford and have they sourced another supplier...all things people who love the brand would want to know.

Cheers
Col

[BroadyFord]

Hopefully Ford prepared for this scenario. I'd imagine these parts will now be sourced from overseas.

[JG34JA]

Would it take time to tool and source them from overseas? What happens to JIT parts delivery?

[johnydep]

It's getting too hard to run a business in Australia; too much red tape, regulation, licencing, auditing, taxes, levies, and the list goes on.

Business can handle that during the good times, but when things slow down they find there's not much room to move.

[BroadyFord]

Ford production won't be affected (plants close in October so Ford has time to find new suppliers):

http://m.theage.com.au/business/ford...725-22pwh.html

[Road_Warrior]

Do Ford own the tooling? Maybe they can get the tooling and set up operations at Geelong, make their own suspension components and avert some of those 440 redundancies.

[SpoolMan]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Do Ford own the tooling? Maybe they can get the tooling and set up operations at Geelong, make their own suspension components and avert some of those 440 redundancies.

That investment would be huge for new tooling, and we still haven't seen no published commitments beyond 2016, the best scenario would be to buy or have there own workers use those machines..

Originally Posted by BroadyFord

Hopefully Ford prepared for this scenario. I'd imagine these parts will now be sourced from overseas.

I believe some suspension parts for the FG are already made in China..

[Bossxr8]

Ford would already have been looking for alternative suppliers from when the original problems started.

[CAT600]

Originally Posted by johnydep

It's getting too hard to run a business in Australia; too much red tape, regulation, licencing, auditing, taxes, levies, and the list goes on.

Business can handle that during the good times, but when things slow down they find there's not much room to move.

Just keep digging pits and drilling holes..... a splash of farming and tourism and that's Australias future in a nutshell.

And we're in a boom hey?........

Daniel

[TMC]

Parts will probably come from China in the future. It won't necessarily be low quality either. They've already got the know how, and the iron will come from Australia anyway. Where will this sort of thing end though?

[JC]

I'm not surprised they can't find a buyer when Ford can't sell enough cars to make it worthwhile.

[ebxr8240]

Or Thailand ??

[yift]

looks like ZF may have to expand to the rest of the Fg range rather than just FPV with suspension parts.

[Buntz]

Originally Posted by TMC

Parts will probably come from China in the future. It won't necessarily be low quality either. They've already got the know how, and the iron will come from Australia anyway. Where will this sort of thing end though?

The government can see the boom slowing, and yet they aren't doing anything to protective a failing automotive sector.

The powers that be over the fate of our car industry, combined with the powers that be over Falcon in dearborn are all really, really, really stupid.

[BroadyFord]

Originally Posted by TMC

Parts will probably come from China in the future. It won't necessarily be low quality either. They've already got the know how, and the iron will come from Australia anyway. Where will this sort of thing end though?

It will end when the entire vehicle comes from China.

CMI's demise is just another example of just how stuffed Australia's car industry (and manufacturing industry in general) is.

[jpd80]

Ford took heed after the stoppage and wil be mostly unaffected by the closure of CMI

Link
CMI makes seatbelt restraints, airbags, brake pad backing plates, suspension components and door and boot hinge parts.

In April, a disruption at its workshops saw Ford forced to stand down workers for several days, because the car maker could not get parts it needed.

Ford said this afternoon it would be able to find a solution to sourcing parts when CMI closed.

"We're not anticipating any disruptions because the company is expected to trade until the end of October, so there's time to secure the supply situation from elsewhere," Ford spokesman Neil McDonald said.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by BroadyFord

It will end when the entire vehicle comes from China.

CMI's demise is just another example of just how stuffed Australia's car industry (and manufacturing industry in general) is.

Once that happens, and China has all the resources it needs, and we produce absolutely nothing, they can charge what they like. All the pollies who have allowed the manufacturing side of Australia to go down the drain, will have large pensions and still won't care less. :(

[GREGL]

Here we go, and I'm sure many people have mentioned it befoe, the australian workforce has priced themselves out of the market when it comes to manufacturing. It is a vicous circle we live in these days, the cost of living goes up the call for a pay rise is next, and so it goes on. No one wants to live in the conditions that the chinese/thai blue collar worker exists in but the facts are the Koreans,czechs and everyone else seem to manage to sell a car here that has at least comparible quality and dynamics to our locally built/badged stuff at a very competive price.( i'm talking the everyday buyer not pewrfomance)
Whether or not you buy one is your choice, but the locals are certainly having a hard time competing against a bucketload of competitors and nothing is gonna change.
Think about it , seriously what company would release to a market a car that required bushes in the rear suspension replaced before it even ran out of warranty. Bonnet release cables replaced at 6 yrs or earlier(even the xe made it to 10 before the handle snapped) This is a common problem mech. reckons he averages 20 odd a year. Soft brakes? that was the euros weakness. All this tech. is great and you expect to pay through the nose if you own a euro, but I was breastfed on Australian cars that were made to last, simple to fix and above all value for money.
One last comment, and i believe it just a about backs up the above. Why build a 335 kw falcon and put ****y little tyres on it, knowing that those that buy it want to utilise its potential just defeats the purpose really.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Ford would already have been looking for alternative suppliers from when the original problems started.

They have become very good at it in the last decade.

[SpoolMan]

CMI $40 million in debt, Coburg Factory closes in October although the Factory in Country Victoria may stay open longer..

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by SpoolMan

CMI $40 million in debt, Coburg Factory closes in October although the Factory in Country Victoria may stay open longer..

Ford has matters in hand:

Ford said this afternoon it would be able to find a solution to sourcing parts when CMI closed.

"We're not anticipating any disruptions because the company is expected to trade until the end of October, so there's time to secure the supply situation from elsewhere," Ford spokesman Neil McDonald said.

If Ford's local manufacturing remains, I see a time coming when most parts will be sourced from FAPA
and their approved suppliers. Just In Time local suppliers will be a thing of the past.

[Luke Plaizier]

Can someone ban GREGL from the forums please? We can all do without the whingefesting.

Was CMI already under administration? Or does buyer reticence now force them into administration, and thus the potential buyer can now pick them up at a cheaper price without the debt? Seems like dejavu - is this just a game that Chinese Buyers seem to play?


Lukeyson

[KIWI-1]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

Or Thailand ??

More likely due to TAFTA.

[neptune blue]

Originally Posted by GREGL

Here we go, and I'm sure many people have mentioned it befoe, the australian workforce has priced themselves out of the market when it comes to manufacturing. It is a vicous circle we live in these days, the cost of living goes up the call for a pay rise is next, and so it goes on. No one wants to live in the conditions that the chinese/thai blue collar worker exists in but the facts are the Koreans,czechs and everyone else seem to manage to sell a car here that has at least comparible quality and dynamics to our locally built/badged stuff at a very competive price.( i'm talking the everyday buyer not pewrfomance)
Whether or not you buy one is your choice, but the locals are certainly having a hard time competing against a bucketload of competitors and nothing is gonna change.
Think about it , seriously what company would release to a market a car that required bushes in the rear suspension replaced before it even ran out of warranty. Bonnet release cables replaced at 6 yrs or earlier(even the xe made it to 10 before the handle snapped) This is a common problem mech. reckons he averages 20 odd a year. Soft brakes? that was the euros weakness. All this tech. is great and you expect to pay through the nose if you own a euro, but I was breastfed on Australian cars that were made to last, simple to fix and above all value for money.
One last comment, and i believe it just a about backs up the above. Why build a 335 kw falcon and put ****y little tyres on it, knowing that those that buy it want to utilise its potential just defeats the purpose really.

Never a truer word spoken
Has any one here ever been an OEM to the car companies
They will send you broke and smile while they are doing it
Forget the crap about supporting local suppliers
Cost downs that's all they ever talk about and beat you over the head, "we are Ford or we are Toyota and if you want to deal with us you will do it on our terms or we will find someone else to source components from"
The company I worked for never got paid 30 days more like 90 days

I dont think the local car manufacturers are entirely responsible for CMI's demise but they contributed to it

[KIWI-1]

Looked at in simple terms the CMI collapse with $40m in debt is because FoA paid >$40m less than the cost of manufacture of the components.
I thought that by now someone on this forum would have suggested that the Govt bail out CMI with $50m so the workers can keep their jobs until 2016.