A LIGHTING plant securing the jobs of hundreds of North- East workers opened yesterday.

Thorn’s £28m factory and £1.3m training academy, in Spennymoor, County Durham, is the largest investment the company has made in one of its plants.

The factory, on the Green Lane Industrial Estate, employing about 700 people, produces lights for customers including Wembley Stadium and Terminal Five, at Heathrow Airport, as well as schools, hospitals, supermarkets and factories.

It replaces the factory in Merrington Lane, which the company had occupied for nearly 60 years. When planning permission was granted for the new factory in 2006, Thorn said it would safeguard the operation there for at least 21 years.

Terry Carmichael, operations director at Spennymoor, said: “The factory being here supports the company strategy of manufacturing in the localised market.

“For the local community, they should be able to see long-term employment, which we always set out to do here. It is a very proud day.”

Andreas Ludwig, chief executive of Thorn’s Austrian parent company, Zumtobel Group, said: “It is the largest single investment we have ever made in the single biggest market we serve.

“This is a very exciting day for us, after two years of planning this and building it.”

“The opening of the facility at Spennymoor is one of the major strategic moves we are making to retain production as close to the customer as possible in order to respond fast and flexibly to customers wishes and meet the challenges of a competitive market place.” Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman, who opened the complex, said she was “over the moon” with the factory.

She said: “I think it means two things; it means longterm security for jobs and, secondly, it demonstrates that companies that innovate can be confident even in difficult economic circumstances and that they will locate here because of the skilled and resilient workforce.”

Stewart Watkins, managing director of the County Durham Development Company, Durham County Council’s business support opertion, said: “Thorn Lighting is a beacon for manufacturing excellence in County Durham.”

The company’s main production facilities have been based in Spennymoor since 1952 and the new 40,000 square meter plant comprises a lighting factory for the Thorn brand and a manufacturing operation for its sister company, TridonicAtco.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson welcomed the opening of the new factory, saying: “This new plant will undoubtedly benefit not just the local community, but the region as a whole.

“The Government is committed to ensuring the manufacturing industry has a strong future in the UK and development of skills is a key part of this. The Zumbotel Group’s investment in the Academy of Light training facility will do just this, helping to advance the skills training available to the local community, creating a durable legacy for the region.”