Ford and its German labour union representatives have agreed a productivity deal that will keep the manufacture of the Fiesta for the European market at its Cologne plant in Germany.
Ford said that management and workers had agreed to scrap costly night shifts, increase flexibility on working hours and reassign work from suppliers to Ford, delivering total savings it estimated at US$400m between 2017 and 2021.
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“The agreement will make the plant more cost efficient, ensuring that next-generation Fiesta production will be globally competitive,” Ford said in a statement.
One option considered by Ford was to relocate production of the next generation Fiesta to low-cost Romania, where there is spare capacity due to slower than expected sales of the B-Max model.
Ford also said it will hire 500 engineers at its development centre in Cologne.
