November 1, 2018
Assad Ibrahim worked in car manufacturing for 12 years. He started at Ford in Melbourne straight out of school when he was still a teenager, in the body shop, literally putting cars together. “The exterior, the side assembly, the hood, the bonnet, the works,” he says. Assad did an apprenticeship for a trade in fitting and turning, and then also a diploma in engineering. He went on to work in project management at Ford, working with the newest manufacturing technology in a high-stakes, well-paid role. Then the Australian automotive industry hit the skids. In Victoria, Toyota has now been reduced to a skeleton staff in Altona doing non-manufacturing roles. Ford stopped making cars in Victoria in 2016. Holden shut its last Australian plant, in Adelaide, last year. It had spanned nearly 100 years; the first Ford factory opened in Geelong in 1925. The grand era was over. “We all knew it was doom and gloom,” says Assad. “It was just a matter of when. It was heartbreaking.…