JCB prepares to axe nearly 200 jobs due to drop in demand

DIGGER manufacturer JCB has announced plans to shed almost 200 jobs at its UK factories.

Yesterday the firm held a staff briefing at which it announced plans to make up to 196 redundancies across five of its nine UK sites.

The affected sites are its world headquarters at Rocester, JCB Cab Systems at Rugeley, JCB Transmissions at Wrexham, and JCB Utility Products and JCB Landpower both at Cheadle.

A 90-day consultation period has begun with staff at its world headquarters. Other affected sites will be subject to a 45-day consultation period.

The company also said that, due to reduced demand for its products, the first working week of January will be set aside to train shopfloor staff.

A JCB spokesman said: "An upturn in demand for products has yet to materialise.

"With no immediate prospect of an improvement in order levels, we must, regrettably, respond to the situation and reduce our manning levels."

JCB, which has factories in Rocester, Uttoxeter and Foston, has been hit hard by the credit crunch.

A lack of credit saw the global construction industry grind to a virtual standstill – which meant JCB had to cut the amount of machines it made.

The latest announcement will bring the total number of jobs shed by the company since the downturn to around 1,800.

JCB currently employs around 4,000 people in the UK.

In recent months, UK estate agents reported an increase in activity and are running short of properties to sell.

This has led some developers to re-start construction activity. But it the upturn has yet to reach the likes of JCB.

Mark Bergman, an organiser from the GMB union for JCB, said: "To be honest, the latest announcement of redundancies is not totally unexpected.

"The upturn has failed to happen as quickly as some people predicted and we are still in a recession.

"During the consultation period we will firstly be asking for people at each of the affected factories who want to leave the company voluntarily.

"But we are hoping that market conditions will improve which might help mitigate the number of redundancies."

Last month, the firm announced a big slump in annual profits from £187m to £39m. Sales were also hit, falling from £2.25bn to £2bn.

JCB said that in order to remain profitable it had to make a number of job cuts.

Earlier this month, the company announced that chief executive Matthew Taylor would leave at the end of the year.

Alan Blake, JCB's chief operating officer, will replace Mr Taylor from January 1, reporting to chairman Sir Anthony Bamford.