Holden has announced production at its Elizabeth plant in South Australia will be cut to a single shift.
The company says it will retain the capability of building up to 400 vehicles per day by adopting a 60-second production cycle.
As a result, the number of contractors and casual workers will be reduced during this year but there will be no voluntary or forced redundancies amongst permanent employees.
The change comes as Holden struggles with the strong Aussie dollar which means growth in export sales is unlikely this year.
“At the current exchange rate we won’t be able to realize further growth in our export programs so the shift changes allow us to maintain production levels and do it more efficiently,” explained Holden boss Mike Devereux.
