Last updated at 13:26, Friday, 01 February 2013

A Workington factory is shedding nearly a fifth of its workforce in an efficiency drive.

ABB at Salterbeck is looking to cut 17 jobs from its staff of about 100 by the end of March.

It hopes to shed the posts through voluntary redundancies but has not ruled out possible compulsory job losses.

All departments of the factory are affected, from production to office support.

A company spokeswoman said: “We are looking to make changes to ensure the long-term profitability of the site and continue to be competitive in what is a very challenging market.

“We hope that we can achieve it through voluntary redundancies without having to make any compulsory redundancies but we can’t rule that out.”

She said the company was offering employees support to find work elsewhere, and redeployment to other ABB sites was being considered.

The nearest ABB sites to Workington are in the North East.

The factory, which makes measuring devices, has been at the Salterbeck Trading Estate for 50 years.

First published at 12:48, Friday, 01 February 2013
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk