Jobs at risk as plant is threatened with closure (From The Northern Echo)

Jobs at risk as plant is threatened with closure

10:24am Tuesday 9th February 2010 in

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A FACTORY producing makeup brushes is threatened with closure, with the loss of more than 130 jobs.

Geka Brush is proposing to close its plant in Stanley, County Durham, with all 132 staff told yesterday that their jobs are at risk.

The German company said a number of its major customers moving their operations abroad, as well as the economic downturn, was behind its decision.

It is planning to carry out production at a single factory in Germany.

Last night, the company said management would begin a 90- day consultation period with employee representatives about the proposal to close Geka Manufacturing, the UK operation.

It added that the purpose of the consultation was to discuss potential ways by which the proposed redundancies could be avoided, the numbers reduced or the effects mitigated.

Group managing director Norbert Dumler said: “When the business first came to the UK, there were a number of very important customers located here.

“However, since the Nineties, companies such as Revlon, Unilever, Procter and Gamble and, most recently, Boots, have all removed filling lines from the UK.

“Most of these customers are now located in the heart of Europe and are easily accessible from our plant in Germany.”

Mr Dumler added that the parent company needed to make cost savings and faced “difficult decisions” to protect the future viability of the group.

He said that the company believed that if its production was consolidated into a single European site, the “appropriate level” of cost savings could be made.

Mr Dumler added: “The group is therefore considering the closure of at least one of the group’s sites within Europe.

“Regrettably, the proposal is that this (Stanley) site could be closed.”

Raymond Oliver, managing director at the Stanley site, who has worked at the plant for 25 years, described it as a very sad day.

He said: “I would like to stress at this time that this proposal is in no way a reflection on the individual efforts made by everyone at this site.

“The workforce here has shown its determination to contribute to the productivity and profitability of the company.”

Geka moved to the North- East from Guildford in 1981 and has been operating from its current site in Tanfield Lea Industrial Estate since 1983.

The jobs at risk include more than 100 engineers, technicians and operators and more than 20 staff employed within the management, HR, administration, finance and supply chain functions.

The UK company recorded a £10m turnover in the past financial year.