‘THE END of an era’ beckons for manufacturing in Rugby after General Electric (GE) announced plans to close its Technology Drive Power Conversion site and move operations to France by the end of next year.
The company has begun a minimum 90-day consultation on a plan to make 197 employees redundant at the site – part of a wider plan to cease manufacturing at the 250-employee site and move production to GE’s plant in Nancy, France by the end of 2019.
A GE spokeswoman said the plans were due to ‘challenging market conditions’ across Power Conversion’s traditional markets.
She said: “There is an overall under-utilisation of sites. To deliver the product costs demanded by GE’s customers, they must consolidate their manufacturing operations.”
She added that prospective demand on the site was low, and that the site in Nancy had been identified as the potential destination for future operations.
GE is consulting with employees and their representatives before any final decision is taken.
A ray of hope was offered when the company announced plans to reorganise GE Power by creating two separate businesses which, it said, would improve Power Conversion’s financial performance.
Unite the Union regional officer Zoe Mayou said it was a positive move, despite no change in the plans for the Rugby site.
She said: “This will allow the workforce to show how profitable this business unit is and secure the future of the threatened workers.
“Unite will work with any interested parties to highlight the specialist skills of GE Power Conversion in Rugby.”
The Labour Party’s parliamentary candidate for Rugby said it could be the end of an era.
Debbie Bannigan said: “If GE ceases manufacturing at Technology Drive, our history of producing world-beating technology comes to an end.
“As well as reducing opportunities for much-needed high-quality jobs in the town, specialist manufacturing capability – vital to our defence industry – is lost to the UK.
“I’m proud of the work Unite has done to preserve as much of our local engineering industry as possible. I’ll continue to work with them to put pressure on our Government to try to find a way to save the Rugby factory.”
Rugby’s MP said he would raise the matter with ministers.
Mark Pawsey said: “In the coming weeks I will be meeting with the Secretary of State for Defence to once again press the case for GE and fight for the workforce.
“I have met with the management team in Rugby, and representatives of the work force, on many occasions both locally and in Westminster. In recent months I have held meetings with Government ministers and helped facilitate meetings between those ministers and representatives of the company.”
The site’s future was thrown into doubt in June, when a £1.3billion plan to build the world’s first tidal power lagoon in Swansea Bay – for which GE in Rugby was to supply the turbines – was thrown out by the government.
