Following closely on the heels of Dyson (www.dyson.co.uk), which is transferring all manufacturing to Malaysia, Hoover Candy is closing its vacuum cleaner factory in Cambuslang, near Glasgow, and moving production to China. A total of 260 jobs will be lost at the plant, which moulds the exterior and aesthetic parts for its cleaners in-house. Toolmaking and manufacture of smaller, functional components is outsourced locally and one estimate is that a further 1,000 jobs could be lost at firms that supply Hoover.

Hoover Candy paid tribute to its workforce at Cambuslang, but said manufacturing costs were still too high at a time when the selling price for vacuum cleaners was continuing to decline. Despite a GBP 1.25m investment last year when it beat off competition from a sister plant in Portugal to build a new generation of cleaners, local sources say many of the injection moulding machines at the factory are at least 10 years old. Up to 70 new positions might be created at the company´s plant in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales if it takes on the work for this new range. A further 90 engineering and sales posts are being retained in Scotland, but will be relocated to other premises.

There was further bad news from the UK´s consumer appliance industry when Morphy Richards announced it is to close its plastic jug kettle factory at Balloo, in Northern Ireland, in January 2004. More than 80 jobs will be lost. Production at the plant has been declining steadily as competition has increased from similar facilities located in Poland, Hungary and Malaysia, although changing fashion away from plastics to chrome and stainless steel is another major contributory factor in the decision to close the plant. Balloo is understood to have had as many as 40 injection moulding machines producing kettle components when operating at its peak.