Ford at Dagenham to Close Stamping Plant

Ford have announce plans to close two major factories in the UK: Southampton and Dagenham. The Dagenham factory is expected to close down in Summer 2013 and the Ford Transit van plant in Southampton will also close with the loss of 500 jobs.

Dagenham employs around 4000 people today – at its peak in 1953 over 40,000 people worked there. The factory covers 475 acres.

“The proposed restructuring of our European manufacturing operations is a fundamental part of our plan to strengthen Ford’s business in Europe and to return to profitable growth.” Stephen Odell, Chairman and CEO of Ford of Europe.

 Stamping Plant To Close at Ford Dagenham

The Stamping Plant, which produces sheetmetal stampings for Ford vehicles, will close down. This section employs around 1000 people, and all 1000 jobs will be lost. It is thought that many will result in redundancy, however, Ford does provide generous redundancy packages. Ford will also attempt to redeploy as many workers as possible into other parts of the business.

Ford Dagenham was built in 1931 and has since produced over 10 million cars and 37 million engines. Although car assembly ceased in 2002 the Dagenham factory produces Ford diesel engines, and is currently the largest manufacturer of Ford diesel engines in the world.

For a history of Ford at Dagenham read the Telegraph’s page: 80 years of Ford at Dagenham by Paul Hudson, May 2009.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *