Hoya Lens UK will make 27 employees redundant at its Wrexham site. This comes after part of its production was moved to a sister plant in Thailand in April, after which it said it would end a number of temporary contracts and cut weekend production to 12 hours on Saturday and Sunday.
Hoya told Optician that ongoing improvements to its channel management strategy, based on customer needs, had necessitated the rationalisation of its supply chain, resulting in some volumes being transferred to Thailand. These measures led to a review of manpower as well as a formal redundancy consultation within its works committee, which began on August 8. Hoya said the committee would reduce the staffing level by 27 people, representing under 5 per cent of its workforce, claiming that most of the reduction would be by voluntary severance.
Martin Batho, UK managing director, said: 'These measures reflect what is happening on a global level in the ophthalmic lens manufacturing industry. While we have transferred some product to Thailand, I want to reassure all our customers that the Hoya Corporation is committed to having local production facilities to back up its national sales drive.'