CONSOLIDATION: Up to 130 jobs could be lost following the decision by US-based tech firm Sanmina-SCI to consolidate its operations in the Republic.

The company plans to close its electronic manufacturing services operation in Blanchardstown in Dublin, transferring all activities to its larger facility in Fermoy, Co Cork. A total of 130 people are employed in Blanchardstown, but most of these jobs are expected to be cut.

The company said the decision was based on is efforts to realign operations in response to market conditions and to the recent merger between Sanmina and SCI.

"Given the business climate and the combined capacity, skills and similarity between our operations in Dublin and Cork, we are left with no alternative but to consolidate operations into the larger facility," said Mr Seamus Grady, vice-president and general manager of the Dublin facility.

A company spokeswoman said some staff would be offered the opportunity to relocate to the Fermoy plant or to one of Sanmina-SCI's overseas operations.

"As the business moves to Cork, there will be some employees who wish to transfer because they have the skills that Fermoy need. I don't know how many people. The company will be looking at that over the next few weeks," she said.

Sanmina-SCI said it plans to complete the transfer by March. "It also has 100 locations around the world and what it will be doing as a matter of priority over the next few weeks is looking at all the openings it has and the skills they have on site and, where there is a match and a willingness to move, it will look at relocation," she added.

The company said it was drawing up a redundancy programme to provide support and consultancy services to employees who will be laid off, to help them find alternative employment.

No details were available on the redundancy package that will be offered to staff.

Sanmina-SCI employs more than 600 staff at its plant in Fermoy, which the company said "has the manufacturing capacity, scale and engineering expertise to meet the demands of the combined Sanmina-SCI Ireland customer base".

No job losses are anticipated at Fermoy. The SCI facility had been operating in Fermoy for more than 10 years before the merger.