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Jobs blow for Cork tech sector - again
Thursday, March 08 2007
by Bryan Collins


US company Bourns Electronics, which has been based in Cork
for 26 years, is to close with the loss of 80 jobs.

The firm, which makes electronic parts for the automotive
industry, has blamed a rise in manufacturing costs and global
competition for its decision to re-locate to the cheaper
economies of Hungary and Mexico. 





The closure of Bourns Electronics, which is based in the
Mahon Industrial Estate in Cork, will happen on a phased
basis and is expected to take less than a year. Just 10 staff
will remain at the Cork facility. 





Bourns Electronics established a facility in Cork in 1980,
and at its peak it employed 240 people. At its Cork base the
company developed specialised thick film printing techniques
aimed at the car industry. Over the years, as it sought to
branch out into new products, it established a strategic
partnership with the National Microelectronics Research
Centre (NMRC), which provided the Bourns product development
team in Cork with access to NMRC technology and expertise in
selected technology areas.





The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Cork
TD, Micheal Martin, has expressed disappointment in this
latest series of job losses to hit Cork. "Our immediate
priority must be securing alternative employment for these
workers. FAS and the other agencies of the State will give
the workers losing their jobs every possible support in
securing alternative employment."





The Labour Party TD for Cork North Central Kathleen Lynch has
accused the Enterprise Minister of "sitting on his hands"
and has called on him to "take action and instruct the
various agencies to prioritise Cork in terms of the search
for new manufacturing jobs."





These latest job losses, coming so soon after the loss of
around 350 staff at Motorola's facility in Cork and 240
redundancies at electronics firm FCI in Fermoy, prompted the
Labour Party to suggest that Cork is in danger of becoming an
"employment blackspot". 



Bourns Electronics has its global headquarters in Riverside,
California and nine other facilities around the world.