BOSSES are battling to secure a future for a Japanese electronics firm which makes and assembles Sky television control panels.

Managers confirmed last night that further jobs were to go at the beleaguered SMK factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, but vowed that the plant would remain open.

The firm was unwilling to elaborate on how it intends to restore the County Durham outfit to an even keel.

As reported in The Northern Echo yesterday, 13 jobs are to go in the latest wave of cutbacks.

The company invested about £3m in the Newton Aycliffe plant when it opened in 1988. It is SMK's only facility in the UK.

The workforce grew steadily to a peak of 350 in 2000, but a global review of operations had reduced the staffing to 125 by last year.

Further restructuring, which included the manufacture of some products being moved to Hungary, led to more redundancies.

The factory now employs 81 people.

Managers at the plant are considering their options, which could include moving.

But they repeated their commitment to the UK operation and confirmed that production is to continue.

SMK director Les Dixon said: "Rumours that this factory is about to close are inaccurate.

"To reduce costs, we have put part of our premises up for sale or lease.

"Alternatively, should a buyer or tenant be interested in all our available space, then we will seriously consider relocating to smaller premises in County Durham."

He added: "We have recently announced 13 redundancies in our injection-moulding area. This was due to a downturn in our plastic-moulding requirements.

"However, the SMK Corporation continues to support this factory.

"We are looking to survive and eventually strengthen our presence in County Durham, not shut down our operations."

The industrial estate in Newton Aycliffe has been hit by a series of job losses.

The town lost 283 jobs when the Sanyo factory closed in December 2001.

Other closures include the Blenheim Furniture plant, and last week, Oshino announced it may be forced to close.