Electronics Production |
Codan close Irish operations
Following 12 months of detailed review of Minelab manufacturing in Ireland and Australia, Codan has decided to cease Minelab’s manufacturing activities in Ireland by December 2009 and to outsource the majority of that activity to Codan’s manufacturing service provider, Plexus, situated in Penang Malaysia.
The project is expected to save Codan more than $0.5 million per annum in operating costs, including direct manufacturing costs and overheads. Closure costs, including redundancies, are expected to approach $1.5 million and will be incurred over the next six months.
"This decision is a strategic one as we outsource to a lower cost manufacturing environment in Asia. The staff will receive their full redundancy entitlements. We thank all staff in Ireland for their valuable contribution to Minelab", a statement reads.
Minelab’s Ireland based sales operations, including marketing, finance, customer service and repair, warehousing and distribution covering Europe, Middle East and Africa are a high performance part of the Minelab business. These operations will continue in Ireland, although alternative premises more suitable will be found. The Company will commence a process to dispose of the current manufacturing facilities. Given the current economic environment Codan expects this sale process to be reasonably protracted - expect to concluded during the year ending 30 June 2010.
