Jobs to go as Pioneer closes regional base

MORE than 200 jobs are at risk after a Japanese-owned electronic products manufacturer said it was to pull out of Yorkshire.

Pioneer Technology UK, which is part of Pioneer Corporation, the global manufacturer of consumer and business-use electronics products used in audio, video and cars, is to cease manufacturing operations at Castleford.
 
Pioneer Technology, which assembles plasma TV’s and DVD recorders at its West Yorkshire factory, said 226 people were at risk of redundancy at the site.
 
The company said it was anticipated that production at the factory would end next spring.

General manager Graham McCulloch said the decision followed an announcement in March when Pioneer Corporation said it would terminate its in-house plasma panel production and would acquire the panels externally.

Consequently Pioneer closed two plants in Japan in May and was looking to find ways to improve profitability in its home electronics business and restructure its display arm.

Mr McCulloch said: “The market for plasma display products within Europe is fiercely competitive and although Pioneer products are highly rated in the marketplace with regard to quality, we have recently experienced an erosion of market share.
 
“Despite efforts to improve profitability within the plasma display business, future production activity is not forecasted to increase in the near future. With such levels of production activity, it has been increasingly difficult to absorb the fixed costs associated with a production facility of the size and nature of our factory at Castleford.
 
“After careful analysis and consideration, senior management are of the opinion that it is no longer commercially viable to continue operations in Castleford at the forecasted levels of output and sales.
 
“It is therefore with much regret and sadness that the company announces its intentions to cease operations at Castleford.”

He said Pioneer Technology would be holding talks with union Unite to discuss redundancies.