Holden Retirees Club

 A.G. Gibbs Correspondence 1963 - Perth Plant

(At the time recorded here, A.G. 'Bill' Gibbs was the Manufacturing Manager; he eventually went on to be the first Australian Managing Diirector of GMH Pty Ltd. in September 1970).

In the early sixties, sales of Holden vehicles were still rising and seemingly had no ceiling.  Forward expansion plans were developed to cater for the foreseen growth:

Project 1065 – 150,000 units per year;

Project 1200 – 175,000 units per year

Project ???? – 200,000 units per year.

The year 1963 was a seminal year for Manufacturing; Project 1065 was being implemented, and Project 1200 was approved early in the year.

In particular, the Perth Plant (Mosman Park) was under review.  Labouring under shortcomings dating back to its inception in 1926, it was still rated at 7 jobs per hour (JPH).  However, restrictions on the site area and potential problems with the Cottesloe unloading/storage area for bodies made management uneasy about the ability to upgrade the plant for higher volumes or even consistently produce 7 JPH.  So, the search for a new Plant site at Perth was commenced. 

A later variation when a new site was not easily found, was to spend only minimum money at Mosman Park to fix some of the historic problems, but keep the volume at 7 JPH, and supplement production by shipped vehicles from the new Elizabeth facility which back then had excess capacity.

The correspondence below is mainly related to the problems of Perth, although occasionally touches on Brisbane (Strathpine Vs Acacia Ridge) and Pagewood.