Ford Bridgend: the plant fears a closure



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Ford Bridgend

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Legend

The Bridgend factory opened in 1980 and employs 1,700 people.

Ford Europe on Thursday called union leaders from Bridgend's engine plant at Esbad's headquarters.

The factory has new concerns about its future. It opened almost 40 years ago and employs 1,700 people.

Only a few months after Ford announced a 1,000-strong reduction in its Welsh workforce, 370 people entered a first phase.

Ford said it would not comment on any speculation and that Welsh secretary Alun Cairns said he had an ongoing dialogue with the company.

Investments in the new Dragon engine have been reduced, while production of an engine for Jaguar Land Rover is expected to complete this year.

It was already wondering if the plant would be viable with only 125,000 Dragon gasoline engines per year.

This comes just days after the fall in car sales in the UK and the BBC expects Ford to contact Welsh government ministers in the early hours of the morning.

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  • Electric cars hope for Bridgend

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It is understood that the meeting was convened in the last 24 hours and that senior executives of Ford in the United States will be present, as well as union leaders from other British sites of the company.

Bridgend AM and former Prime Minister Carwyn Jones said they understand that an announcement would be made Thursday at lunch time.

"I do not foresee that the news will be good news but I do not know yet what is this news," he said.

"There are a lot of rumors going around right now, but it's a very worrying time for all those who work at the factory."

Mr Cairns said he had been in contact with Welsh Economy Minister Ken Skates, and said the automotive sector was going through a period of structural transformation in favor of electric vehicles.

"We are determined to do everything in our power to protect future jobs in this exciting sector," he added.

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Legend of the mediaThe story of the construction of the Ford Bridgend factory between 1977 and 1980.

Chronology

2008: Ford announces that it will operate as a single global company – meaning that its Bridgend engine plant had to compete with its other factories around the world, not just in Europe.

2015: Bridgend earns investment in Dragon gasoline engine project – 250,000 engines per year, but 750,000 capacity per year

2016: Dragon's planned investment is reduced to £ 121m and the number of engines is halved to 125,000

2017: Ford expects a reduction of 1,160 workers by 2021 and confirms that production of Jaguar Land Rover engines – which account for half of the workforce – will be completed in 2020

2018 Jaguar engine workers face a five-day shutdown due to the temporary shutdown of JLR production. Ford's European boss warns that a Brexit without agreement would be a "pretty disastrous"

2019 Ford plans to cut 370 jobs from the first phase of layoffs, which will total 990 jobs by 2021. The Dragon project is expected to employ about 500 people.

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