|
Canadian contract manufacturing company Surface Mount Technology Centre (SMTC) has cut 80 temporary jobs in Cork.
Before the cuts the company employed 200, and the 80 employees now out of work were retained on a "day-today basis," the company said.
The job losses are the result of the possible loss of a major UK customer, Simoco, which has had an administrator appointed by the courts as part of a financial restructuring. A review will now take place concerning the status of the remaining 120 workers at the SMTC facility pending the outcome of Simoco's situation.
Globally, SMTC provides electronic contract manufacturing for sectors of the electronics industry such as telecommunications, networking and computer end markets. In Cork, the company's business focuses on medium to high volume Surface Mount Technology (SMT) assembly through to system/box level assembly. SMT is a way of mounting various electronic components to printed circuit boards.
This is the second round of SMTC job cuts in Ireland in less than a year. In August 2001 the firm slashed 69 of its 179 workers at a fibre optic manufacturing facility in Donegal. That facility, formerly part of a company named Qualtron that was acquired by SMTC in August 2001, put its remaining 110 workers on a three-day working week after the cuts were made.
One month ago the firm released its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2001, beating expectations, but reporting a net loss of USD36.7 million or USD1.28 per share compared to net income of USD4.3 million or USD0.15 per share for the same period in 2000. Before exceptional charges however the firm had a gross profit of USD2.6 million versus USD23.9 million during the same period in 2000.
When those figures were released, the company had already begun a restructuring programme that, according to president and CEO Paul Walker, was beginning to pay off. But at that time he also said that the firm had additional plans to transfer programs to lower cost locations along with a strategy to improve productivity and operational efficiencies.
SMTC first came to Ireland in 1998 when it acquired the former Ogden Atlantic Design electronic contract manufacturing facility. In 1999 the company announced a major expansion plan that was due to create 350 jobs by 2003 as demand for its services increased throughout Europe. That expansion came alongside IEP9.5 million in investment in the facility, supported by the IDA.
But when the expansion was announced SMTC already employed 160 workers in Cork and since that time its numbers have increased by only 40.
|
