Ford invests $700 million and boosts economy

With the rising global demand for Ford Motor Company’s vehicles, it spent $700 million to retool its assembly plant in Oakville, Ont., in order to expand and improve its manufacturing capability. The investment will secure 2,800 jobs at the plant, however, many more jobs will be indirectly created from the plants operations.

Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, describes the investment as “a welcome boost to the economy and the automotive sector.”

Ford aims to shift to a “global platform” with more standardization of their products across the international markets.

With upgrading the plants technology and efficiency, they want to quickly respond to changing consumer demands in the automotive market. The methods of manufacturing will become much more flexible with the ability to switch from one vehicle model to another without having to shut down production for long periods. This ties directly to the job of an operations manager. The goal is to ensure that the organization is running as smoothly and efficiently as possible, and that the goods and services produced meet client or customer needs.

Ford is looking to where the market is headed, and they see growth in their global market.

Check out the article here

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Google’s snooping invades privacy of the world

The Google Streetview car

Throughout 2008-2010, the popular Google Streetview car has driven down the roadways of the world capturing pictures for their virtual mapping project. However, what is unknown to most is that this pole-mounted camera was collecting personal documents such as emails, usernames, passwords, and images from wireless networks. Google claims that this was inadvertent.

According to BBC News, “It had hoped to put the issue behind it, arguing that it had no case to answer because such data was readily accessible to members of the public and therefore not subject to wire-tapping laws.”

It has been ruled that Google has broken the law despite the fact that these wifi networks are open to the public.

Stakeholders in this case include shareholders, competitors, the government, the public whose information was collected, and Google’s company as a whole. The company must protect their brand from this privacy scandal. In regards to ethics, they cannot use ignorance as a defence. Stakeholders are expecting a quick and repentant response. Google must move forward with a public apology and express the actions they will take to ensure that the public’s safety and privacy is returned.

The opportunity has appeared to train employees internally about privacy and data. Google has promised to obliterate all data.

Read the full story here

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