Hundreds of jobs at a fork-lift truck manufacturer in Northern Ireland appeared safe today after its US owner announced plans to close a Scottish plant and concentrate operations in Co Armagh.
NACCO, which manufactures Hyster and Yale forklift trucks in Craigavon and Irvine in Scotland, announced a major restructuring of its European division which will see hundreds of jobs go in Irvine by 2009.
The company announced Craigavon - which employs more than 650 people - had been selected to manufacture the next generation electric range for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
At the same time Craigavon will phase out a number of product lines which it currently manufactures for the US market - with the work switching to a company plant in Kentucky.
The company said that over-capacity in Europe and the current exchange rate between the dollar and the Euro and sterling were the two main factors which led to the review of the company operations.
Alan Little, plant manager in Craigavon, said the phasing out of a number of the firm's US product lines will be offset by the decision to manufacture the next generation electric product range at Craigavon.
'At this stage it is unlikely there will be any significant change to our current core staff numbers but we will be undertaking a detailed communication process with all employees and their representatives over the coming months', he said.
NACCO have been operating in Craigavon since building a plant on a greenfield site in 1979. Since then they have grown to be one of the largest employers in the area.
