Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 3 Nov 1998

Vol. 495 No. 7

Written Answers. - Industrial Development.

Joe Higgins

Ceist:

118 Mr. Higgins (Dublin West) asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if her attention has been drawn to British newspaper reports that job losses and possible closure are scheduled by a company (details supplied) at Mitcheldean, Forest of Dean, England, to make way for investment by the same company in Dundalk, County Louth; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21026/98]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms Harney)

In late 1997, Xerox Corporation initiated an internal review of its worldwide business activities to refocus itself to meet the competitive challenges of the global document processing market. This review was undertaken by Xerox, primarily to enable it to manage the technology evolution as the document processing market moves from traditional products such as stand alone copiers and printers to digitally connected, networked equipment.

Arising from this review, Xerox Coporation announced in April of this year, a worldwide restructuring programme which features an organisation-wide cost reduction programme including 9,000 redundancies worldwide; a strong focus on the rapidly growing digital based products market colour copiers, printers, etc; a revised business model for Europe based on consolidation of a number of business activites in a single location leading to increased corporate efficiency, customer service and reduced operating costs. Xerox also announced that the European restructuring would lead to 3,800 job losses throughout Europe over a three year period.

Xerox evaluated a number of greenfield sites and locations in Europe. Following a process of internal evaluation by the corporation, Dundalk and Blanchardstown were selected as the locations for its strategic investment to meet future growth needs.

A key element of Xerox Corporation's European business strategy is the manufacture of a range of new and existing products on a single market site at Dundalk, resulting in the creation of 1,465 jobs. As part of this agreed strategy, Xerox proposes to relocate some manufacturing activities and some jobs from its Mitcheldean (UK) facility to Dundalk. This transfer process is expected to commence in December 1999 and will take approximately 12 months to complete. This was announced by Xerox Corporation on 7 October 1998 as a first step in the implementation of its manufacturing strategy.

In order to mitigate the impact of these jobs moves at Mitcheldean, Xerox Coporation has publicly announced that it proposes to put in place a range of actions designed to avoid the need for any compulsory redundancies including redeployment, retraining, voluntary redundancy and voluntary early retirement.