AECOM was appointed in July 2017 as Program Manager by the Ford Motor Company (Australia) to manage the decommissioning, deconstruction and selective demolition of its three manufacturing facilities in Victoria and to prepare them for future sale and re-use. AECOM’s responsibilities include project management of the three Sites as an integrated program of work including, safety, environmental, engineering, commercial, contracts, stakeholder and project controls functions.

As part of this integrated delivery, one discrete and critical element completed by the Program team was the decommissioning, deconstruction, packaging and loadout of the newest of Ford’s manufacturing lines comprising three by 1,000t and two by 2,400t Fagor stamping presses complete with associated automation and press line infrastructure. The equipment had to be disassembled, catalogued, preserved and packaged in such a way that it could be reconfigured and reconstructed by another automotive manufacturer in Europe seamlessly and within strict time constraints.

Early attempts to contract these works had broken down, however AECOM identified alternative, suitable contractors and ran a rapid engagement prequalification, evaluation process and supported negotiations to lock in a new contractor within a very short time frame. AECOM worked collaboratively with Ford and:

  • Managed the fluidity of the situation professionally and protected Ford’s interests every step of the way;
  • Leveraged strong contractor relationships to resolve disputes and keep the works progressing, despite some significant commercial impediments;
  • Navigated constantly changing and evolving technical and commercial requirements; and
  • Monitored the schedule and pushed hard to mitigate the risks, resulting in a successful completion of the project.

AECOM’s leadership ensured that works where progressed in accordance with the Buyer’s quality and schedule requirements to ensure the sale was secured for the benefit of Ford, who was delighted with our performance, as evidenced by the following:

“As the project manager, the AECOM team worked closely with the Ford team on all aspects of the project, including procuring a contractor in a short time frame. There were numerous challenges the team faced … and our teams lived our values including always being safety risk wary…, being issue focussed, adopting a team approach to resolution, [being] just and fair, resilience, and develop[ing] a positive learning culture to drive continuous improvement. Significant thanks and well done to the AECOM team for their commitment and to living our values.”

Ford Australia’s Operations Director