Rodenstock is to cease lens surfacing and coating in the UK resulting in around 30 redundancies from its UK manufacturing base in Northfleet, Kent.
Explaining the move, UK managing director Dietmar Rathbauer said meeting the predicted demand for advanced lenses was best achieved by concentrating investment in the group's main European plant. Demand for conventional lenses had reduced over recent years, he said, and the European plant's 24/7 working would ensure that customers would be unaffected.
'Investment in the European plant over a number of years has resulted in the highest quality facility; it has produced freeform lenses for the UK since 2001. The cost of investing in the technologies and equipment for the UK would be much greater than using existing European facilities.' He added that the UK was the last of the group's local production facilities to take this option.
Production around glazing, sales and marketing and stock lens supply will remain while investment is planned to expand the scope of glazing and sales and marketing at the site.
A spokeswoman for the firm said discussions over job losses were on-going and it was too early to give exact figures. She said Rodenstock would remain at its Northfleet headquarters.
She said deliveries of freeform lenses had been made from the European plant for many years without problems and delivery times had recently improved following investment in a new computer system.
All current products would be continued with new lens product launches expected in the summer.