Weir Group to close five factories

International engineering company Weir Group has announced that it will be closing five of its smaller manufacturing factories over the course of 2015.

The company also intends to consolidate a number of service centres, alongside other workforce reductions and the exit of certain lower margin activities.

The changes are the result of a review undertaken in the third quarter to identify opportunities to reduce costs, increase customer responsiveness and efficiency while aligning resources globally to capture end market opportunities.

A Weir Minerals spokesperson told Pump Industry that these changes are unlikely to have considerable impact on the company’s Australian facilities.

“There will be small changes in New South Wales with the existing elastomer facility at Somersby, NSW to shift to the Artarmon, NSW manufacturing facility.”

Weir Group states that: “Manufacturing activities will be consolidated into larger existing facilities, which will require a small amount of capital expenditure. These actions are expected to deliver annualised benefits of £35m, of which approximately £20m will be realised in 2015.

“It is estimated that one-off cash restructuring costs of approximately £25m and impairment charges of around £20m, arising on facility closures, will be incurred and recognised as an exceptional item. It is expected that the majority of the restructuring expense will be provided in the 2014 results although an element may be deferred to 2015, primarily depending on the outcome of employee consultations.”

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