iConnectHub

Login/Register

WeChat

For more information, follow us on WeChat

Connect

For more information, contact us on WeChat

Email

You can contact us info@ringiertrade.com

Phone

Contact Us

86-21 6289-5533 x 269

Suggestions or Comments

86-20 2885 5256

Top

Clipsal forced to switch off Strath

Source:March 17, 2012 | Advertiser (Aus Release Date:2012-03-19 475
Medical Equipment
Add to Favorites

By BUSINESS EDITOR CHRISTOPHER RUSSELL

PRESSURE on the manufacturing sector has claimed another casualty, with Clipsal announcing yesterday it will close its Strathalbyn factory, putting 200 jobs at risk.

“It's a very sad day for Strathalbyn,” Clipsal executive general manager Damien Cummins said. “But to put it in perspective, we are desperately trying to keep manufacturing in South Australia.

“We want to be able to do that in a very competitive environment.

“The majority of our product is Australian made, in fact South Australian-made.

“We have to consolidate into our main site in Gepps Cross to get the volume in an aggressive market.”

Owned by French company Schneider Electric, Clipsal employs 100 permanent staff at Strathalbyn. They will all be offered a transfer to Gepps Cross or an above-award redundancy package.

Some 100 casual jobs will also go as the factory winds up by the year's end.

Clipsal employs about 1100 people in SA, mostly at Gepps Cross. It also has a factory in Wingfield as well as in Victoria, NSW and Brisbane.

Plant and equipment at Strathalbyn will be moved to Gepps Cross where Clipsal invested $35 million in 2009 in a facility which has plenty of room to expand. Mr Cummins said the preferred option was for permanent staff to transfer.

“It is important to understand that we are not closing a business, we are consolidating our Strathalbyn operations into our state-of-the-art facility at Gepps Cross,” he said.

Clipsal had been in contact with the State Government and was not asking for any assistance.

“They were supportive about trying to help us but it's not about their providing funding or assistance,” he said. “We don't need that - it's about becoming more efficient.”

Clipsal opened the Strathalbyn site in 1995, with the then Liberal state government under Dean Brown providing $2.5 million to construct the 3250sq m factory and adjoining training centre.

Strathalbyn District Council contributed $100,000 in civil works.

At the time, Clipsal was owned by the Gerard family who retained ownership of the factory and leased it to Clipsal after the company was taken over by Schneider.

A state government spokesman said $500,000 of the funding wasAdidas

Add to Favorites
You May Like