A fighting spirit in dark times
ENGINE production supervisor Luke McSeveney sensed a defining purpose as the going got tough at Ford’s Geelong plant a few years ago.
With the company taking full ownership of Ford Performance Vehicles, FPV, from Melbourne in 2013 came the need for Geelong to produce supercharged V8 engines at short notice.
Mr McSeveney oversaw the design, launch and running of the process. It was a sizeable challenge for his small team against a testing backdrop, with the announcement of full closure of Ford Australian manufacturing made the same year, but he estimates they did with pocket money what others might have paid for with millions.
“At least inside the building our sort of Australian fighting spirit came out,” Mr McSeveney said as he reflected on the years.
“We were preoccupied with making the best of the situation.”
Mr McSeveney, 33, said the example stood for many other production areas and provided some sense of wider comfort ahead of the October 7 end of 91 years of Ford manufacturing in Geelong.
“I’m confident there’s nothing we could have done for extra outcomes,” he said. “So there’s a sense of satisfaction in the sadness, no what-ifs, because we did everything we could.”
Though Ford will continue research and development work in the Geelong region, hundreds of workers will formally step into different lives with the closing of the manufacturing chapter at North Geelong.
After eight years with Ford, Mr McSeveney made a longconsidered shift to study theology in 2014.