Banta Corp to axe 200 staff in Cork
28-09-2006
by Ciara O'Brien

Up to 200 jobs may be lost at a Cork facility as US-based Banta Corporation announces plans to move part of its operations to the Czech Republic.

The redundancies at Banta Global Turnkey are expected to take place in the first quarter of 2007. Up to 75 percent of the affected employees are permanent, while the remaining 25 percent are temporary.

The tech firm announced early in September that it was planning to make strategic investments that would help accelerate its growth and improve its competitive position. The move to the Czech Republic is part of the bid to cut costs and, according to the company's statement, "help bring the company's cost structure in line with the current competitive environment and customer requirements."

"Banta will provide a redundancy package and out-placement assistance to eligible employees," Banta said in a statement.

Banta currently employs 350 people at the Hollyhill Industrial Estate plant in Cork, which currently undertakes contract manufacturing, making hard disk drives and printing manuals and brochures. It also has operations in Limerick.

Banta Global Turnkey has been in operation in Cork since 1995, after taking over the Irish-owned BG Turnkey Services. The group employs more than 2,200 people worldwide.

This is the second jobs blow for Cork this week. On Monday, Data Devices Corporation, which manufactures data conversion interface products, revealed it was to close its doors in the region, losing 71 jobs in the process.

Other job losses announced in recent times include the 157 jobs at the Braun plant in Carlow, and Smart Telecom's announcement that it was to cut its workforce to 100 from 348. There are also fears that Motorola could axe an additional 60 jobs from its Cork mobile networks plant, on top of the 30 already cut in July at the mobile maker's research and development centre.

This latest spate of job losses underpins the Government's desire to move Ireland towards a knowledge economy. With increasing competition from lower-cost economies, such as Eastern European countries, for manufacturing jobs, the importance of creating a highly-skilled workforce is evident.

The Government recently announced a new science strategy aimed at bringing that knowledge economy a step closer. However, one of the biggest concerns, the number of students taking science subjects, appears to be less of a worry than first thought.

According to a report released on Wednesday by the Higher Education Authority, the initiatives being implemented to boost interest in high tech subjects are paying off. It said that CAO applications for places on science courses have increased, while more students are opting for science as their first choice at third level.