The Dublin suburb of Blanchardstown received its second jobs' disappointment yesterday with the announcement that the Fujitsu Isotec plant was to close with the loss of 127 jobs.
Previously, Sanmina-SCI said it planned to close its electronic manufacturing services operation in Blanchardstown, transferring all activities to its larger facility in Fermoy, Co Cork, with the potential loss of 130 jobs.
Fujitsu Isotec Ireland, which manufactures components and products for serial printers, said it would begin consultation with its employees immediately on the proposed closure of the plant and said it expected operations to cease by the end of January.
The company, which has been based in Blanchardstown since 1989, blamed the closure on the downturn in its particular industry sector. It provided ribbon cassettes and print heads to Fujitsu subsidiaries and group companies in Europe and the US. It also carried out contract manufacturing activities for non-Fujitsu client companies in Europe. But the company said serial printer technology had largely been superseded by laser and inkjet printers, sharply reducing its share of the worldwide printer market.
"This has impacted heavily on the company's sales of ribbon cassettes, supplied as consumables, resulting in negative returns in second-quarter fiscal year 2001, with no prospect of improvement," the company said in a statement.
It said it was unable to retain customers and attract clients in its subcontracting business due to the age of existing equipment.
Pressure from competitors, plus the presence of a number of pirate operators, in the shrinking market had resulted in losses, leading to the decision to close, said Mr John McGlynn, human resources and general affairs manager at Fujitsu Isotec. The company said it recorded "substantial losses" in the second quarter of last year. Accumulated losses for the Irish subsidiary had reached around €5 million, according to Mr McGlynn. "The serial printer business has been contracting for some considerable time," he said.
"We've been trying to augment our business here with other product lines but unfortunately the dreaded day has arrived. We have assessed this situation over the last 18 months to the point where we even sought to sell the business to maintain the jobs." But he said the downturn in the international technology sector ended the company's hopes of finding a buyer.
Substantial investment in new plant and equipment would be required to meet the market demand for high-volume low-cost units, Fujitsu said.
"Despite the fact that we have invested substantially here over the past 13 years to the tune of €25 million (£19.69 million), we're at a stage where the level of investment we judge is required wouldn't be justified at this time," said Mr McGlynn.
The closure was also related to Fujitsu's announcement last August when it unveiled plans for a restructure and a new growth strategy which would result in rationalisation and slimming-down of manufacturing operations.
Yesterday's announcement was the second closure of a Fujitsu subsidiary in the past five months. In September, Shinko Microelectronics in Tallaght, a joint venture between Fujitsu and Shinko Electric, said it was to close with the loss of 340 jobs.
No details were available on the redundancy package which will be offered to staff at Fujitsu Isotec. Mr McGlynn said the company was working on an outplacement programme to source alternative employment for staff.
Labour Party spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment Mr Pat Rabbitte said the loss of the jobs at Blanchardstown was the latest indication of a growing jobs crisis to which the Government seemed incapable of responding.
Labour councillor Ms Joan Burton said the loss of jobs was a "gloomy start" to the new year for the Blanchardstown area, which had already seen the recent closure of WorldPort Communications and which had been badly affected by threatened job losses in Aer Lingus.
