Lower Hutt windscreen manufacturer Pilkington Automotive Ltd will close in September this year putting 130 people out of work, the company said today.
General manager Timo Rautarinta said the Taita-based automotive glass plant, a subsidiary of Pilkington (New Zealand) Ltd, would close on September 30.
Staff were told of the confirmed closure
on Friday, just three weeks after management first told them it was likely.
At the April 30 meeting staff were also told that several years of difficult trading conditions had led management to consider closing the operation.
Today Mr Rautarinta said: "Continuing competitive pressure from other countries with lower cost structures and the recent appreciation of the New Zealand dollar have made closure inevitable."
Aside from closure, the British-owned company had considered selling the plant, or continuing on if better profitability could be achieved.
It currently has annual sales of about $31 million, and its efforts to resist fluctuations within international markets included a $15 million capital investment.
Confirmation of the closure comes after consultation with employees and the Engineers Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU).
"The company is committed to assisting all our employees in finding alternative employment," Mr Rautarinta said in a statement today.
Pilkington would set up a job search bureau to find employment for those to be made redundant, and would also use Work and Income and other job search agencies, he said.
It was earlier reported that redundancy provisions were for seven week's pay for the first year of employment and two weeks pay for every other year.
The plant was opened in 1953 to service the local vehicle assembly industry and switched to export in the 1990s when many plants closed.
The closure does not affect Pilkington Building Products, which is a separate and profitable division of the parent company.
- NZPA
