Ford jobs go in-house: Automodular prepares to close by Dominik Kurek Oakville Beaver Staff 5 | Thursday, June 20, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Approximately 525 Oakville workers at Automodular Corporation have had bad news from their employer. The Ajax-based company's two Oakville subassembly and sequencing plants are set to shut down, likely in the second half of 2014, when the company's contract to assemble core vehicle components for Ford Motor Company ends. The contract ends June 30, 2014. At that time, Oakville-based Ford intends to take the assembly back in-house to its Oakville facility. Ford has notified Automodular of its desire to have the Ajax company continue to provide services until the fourth quarter of 2014. Ford has stated that bringing back the subassembly and sequencing to its own facilities is part of the automaker's efforts to insource core work in its own vehicles. While Automodular will be closing its two local plants, leaving more than 500 people out of work, it's unknown how many new workers Ford will need to hire to bring back the assembly to its own facilities. A statement from Ford said it's too early in the process to provide details about staffing. Automodular is just hoping as many, if not all, of its employees can make the shift from its Speers Road plants to Ford's plant on The Canadian Road. "Our hope is that we can work together with Oakville's Automodular plant is preparing to close at the end of June next year as Ford of Canada ends its contract with the Ajax-based firm. Oakville Beaver file photo Ford and the CAW to find a way for as many of the hourly workers that we have doing work for us transition into positions at the Ford Oakville assembly plant," said Automodular CEO and president Christopher Nutt. "The reality is they've been doing the work the last six years and they've been doing a great job and Ford has acknowledged that." Automodular signed the contract with Ford in late 2006 to build a number of car parts for the automakers, including the engine module, instrument panel, suspension modules and struts. In total, Automodular builds eight compo- nents for Ford vehicles. "We're building quite a substantial portion of the vehicles," said Nutt. The manufacturing is done on an adjustmenttime basis, so when Ford starts to build a car, they send the order to Automodular for the part. A few hours later, that part is being installed into a vehicle at the Ford plant. Nutt said it would make most sense for Ford to take on Automodular's employees when it begins doing the work itself. "You don't have to bring someone off the street who has no idea how to sub-assemble a power pack or a dashboard or suspension module because we've already got people who know how to do the work," he said. "That's something we'll work with Ford and the CAW to try and accomplish... Anything we can do to help transition our workers, we will try to." Automodular will have no other business operations following the closure of its two Oakville plants. It has had contracts in the wind energy sector and is currently working with external consultants to identify and assess opportunities to leverage its operational skills and financial resources. The financial impact of the closure of the two plants is estimated to be an after tax loss of approximately $6 million with the majority of those costs expected to be recorded in 2013. The cost estimates will be re-examined on a quarterly basis, Automodular said. FAMILY GOLF LEARNING CENTRE 2 Free Large Baskets with our New Bonus Card (STARTING MAY, 2013) New Patients Welcome! Our door is always open We pride ourselves on the high quality of treatment, service and care we provide. 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