After 70 years of operation at its Dandenong plant in Melbourne, IVECO Australia closed the doors on its local full line production yesterday.
It is unclear how many employees have lost their jobs as a result.
In an emailed statement to Big Rigs last week, an IVECO spokesperson stressed the company continues to “focus on supporting our people.”
“This people first approach means we are supporting manufacturing employees to transition beyond IVECO,” the spokesperson said.
“We recently held a ‘jobs fair’ which saw 14 employers involved in similar industries attend IVECO, to meet with employees impacted by the manufacturing sundown and explore new employment options with them. This was an opportunity to link great jobs with great people.”
In a short post on its Facebook page IVECO Australia marked the end of 70 years of production by wishing employees well.
“It was with mixed emotions that we farewelled our manufacturing team, and excitement that we look towards IVECO ANZ with a new Customisation & Innovation Centre.
“We thank the team again for their hard work and dedication, and wish them the very best with their transition.”
In a statement last year, the company said that the decision to fully import its heavy duty range will allow IVECO Trucks Australia to more closely align model year introduction timings with that of its parent company in Europe.
As part of the transformation process, IVECO also announced the launch of the Customisation and Innovation Centre (CIC).
The CIC is a business unit that IVECO said will further leverage its local engineering and manufacturing expertise, transforming the company’s focus towards the customisation and innovation of its vehicles for local markets.