ONE thousand jobs have been secured at a North-East electronics factory following an order for state-of-the-art television technology.

Philips Components, based in Durham City, is celebrating following the first official order of its new 21-inch 'real flat' television tube.

The factory is the biggest private sector employer in the city with around 1,000 staff.

Earlier this year workers faced the threat of redundancy when the Dutch electronics group unveiled plans to lay off thousands of workers across the globe in response to a slow-down in the US economy.

The new multi-million order from Panasonic is expected to safeguard jobs at the Durham plant for the foreseeable future.

Gerard Cantwell, product and materials manager, said: "There was talk of redundancies in April but no jobs were lost at Durham.

"We will be going into long-term production of the new tube which will hopefully maintain current levels of employment."

The 21-inch 'real flat' is the first flat television tube to be produced in Europe for the mainstream market and Philips is hoping to establish a strong market presence.

Mr Cantwell said: "This is another key milestone in Durham's 30-year history of tube manufacturing.

"We have a very strong customer focus which is reflected in the fact that many of our customers specify a Philips Durham tube in their product.

"More than seven major European set makers have endorsed our new tube and will be using it in their next generation 21-inch TV sets."

The 'real flat' tube provides enhanced brightness, contrast and sharpness and is ideal for digital and interactive TV.

Staff at Philips worked closely with several key suppliers to develop the new technology, which is made using more than 50 separate production processes.

Philips Components, which also employs about 800 people at a sister factory in Washington, exports television tubes to countries throughout Europe, Asia and America.

One in three tubes found in televisions and PCs is made by the company but with 96 per cent of production going abroad, the factory is at the mercy of international market fluctuations.

Updated: 15.21 Tuesday, June 19