Monday July 14, 06:40 PM
Digger Giant JCB Axes 500 Jobs
By Sky News
More than 500 jobs are being axed at digger giant JCB as the firm announced steps to cut costs after a "rapid decline" in business. The Staffordshire-based firm said the positions were expected to go across its manufacturing workforce.
All
of JCB's UK factories will be affected by the job losses, hitting staff at eight factories in Staffordshire, two in Wrexham and one in Derbyshire.
The 500 manufacturing job cuts account for 8% of JCB's UK total employee base, but it added that a number of office-based staff positions are also facing the axe.
It said details of the further redundancies were still being hammered out.
JCB revealed that orders had plummeted, leaving its forecast production schedule for the rest of the year down by 20%.
The privately-owned firm warned last month that sales growth was under pressure, as the credit crunch slowed construction demand this year.
Matthew Taylor, group chief executive, said the job cuts were "regrettable but absolutely necessary".
He added: "Our products are used mostly in the construction sector, which has been badly affected by the global credit crisis and rising raw material costs."
The group is seeing some continued growth in emerging markets, such as Russia, Brazil and the Middle East.
But it said this is not enough to offset the declines elsewhere and does not expect to see a recovery until late 2009 at the earliest.
JCB is the world's third largest manufacturer of construction equipment, with 18 plants around the world, employing more than 9,000 staff in total.
The group, which was founded in 1945, claimed a 12% share of the world construction equipment market last year, manufacturing more than 300 different products for the construction and agricultural markets.
It had boosted its UK workforce by more than 44% in the two years to last December.
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