A CANADIAN company which manufactures robots used by security forces to perform dangerous tasks is to close its factory in Kilbrittain, Co Cork, with the loss of 43 jobs.
The closure is part of a plan to trim its workforce worldwide by 15 per cent. Allen Vanguard Corporation proposes to relocate the assembly of its bomb-disposal robots from Cork to its operation in Tewkesbury, England.
In June 2006 Allen Vanguard Group selected the Cork facility as its global centre of excellence for robots. Robots for the Canadian department of national defense and a US federal agency are currently manufactured there.
Allen Vanguard employs 660 people in Canada, Ireland, the US and UK. However, it has announced plans to shed 100 positions.
The company develops and sells equipment to detect, detonate and minimise the effects of roadside bombs and other chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive hazardous materials.
However, the US presidential election has slowed the approval of military spending.