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2010 Issues Archive
27 January 2010
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Vacuum firm Edwards to shut plants
Vacuum equipment maker Edwards is to move most of its manufacturing activities overseas, leading to the loss of more than 200 jobs across two UK sites.
The decision to move production to South Korea and the Czech Republic brings to a close an illustrious history in the UK, which dates back to 1919.
Chief executive Nigel Hunton said the company needed to be closer to its customers, particularly in Asia. He said: “In recent years, the UK market for our products has reduced in size while other markets have grown rapidly. We need to maintain competitiveness, and we can only do that by being closer to our customers. The move will also allow us to continue reducing our lead times.”
Hunton said that emerging markets for Edwards’ products, such as the LED lighting industry, were also primarily located overseas. “Most LED investment is made in Korea, so it makes sense for us to have a stronger presence over there,” he said.
The decision will result in the closure of Edwards’ vacuum pump production plant in Burgess Hill and a semiconductor site at Shoreham in Sussex. A smaller gas abatement manufacturing facility in Clevedon near Bristol will remain open. But the company said that R&D activities would continue to be located in the UK, and that it would construct a technical centre in Sussex that would eventually employ “several hundred” engineers.
Hunton said: “Research and technology innovation will always stay in the UK. We have incredible intellectual property, knowledge and skills here.”
Edwards was taken over by private-equity firm CCMP Capital in 2007. But Hunton denied that private-equity ownership had impacted its decision to move manufacturing abroad. “We moved some production to China and India long before CCMP got involved,” he said.
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© PE Publishing, 27 January 2010
