MINI is cutting jobs at the Oxford Plant due to slowing demand. According to the BBC MINI is cutting 400 out of the 950 contract jobs at the plant as it looks to move from three shifts to two this fall.
The jobs aren’t actually MINI employees but considered sub-contractor employees of the GI Group. The need for the reduction stems from the global downturn as a results from the global COVID-19 crisis.
MINI expects production capacity to be reduced from 1000 cars a day to between 800-900.
Bob Shankly, HR director at MINI explained, “Like other automotive manufacturers, our volume forecasts for 2020 have had to change accordingly. This will give us the flexibility we need to adapt our production in the short to medium term, according to developments in global markets.”
Update September 10, 2020:
According to the Oxford Mail newspaper, a BMW spokesman said:
“We can confirm that our proposed shift pattern change at Mini Plant Oxford, scheduled for mid-October, has been postponed due to recent and unexpected improvements in global customer demand.”
“In light of higher than expected order volumes for Mini in October we have made the decision to maintain the three-shift pattern that we currently have in place at the plant.”
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