3M to close manufacturing plant with loss of 50 jobs

By NZPA

Monday 25th June 2007

Global manufacturer 3M plans to close its New Zealand production facility next year with the loss of about 50 jobs, leaving about 150 local staff.

The closure at the end of 2008 was not a cost-saving measure, but would move manufacturing closer to markets in North America, Asia and Europe, corporate marketing manager Terry Roper said.

The company imported raw materials into New Zealand to manufacture mainly foil adhesive tape for export.

"The New Zealand dollar really hasn't had any bearing on our proposal to transfer the manufacturing. It's really been, we really need to put the manufacturing ... closer to our customers and suppliers," Roper said.

The plant, on Auckland's North Shore, began manufacturing for domestic demand in the 1960s.

"There was a lot of import restrictions in those days and we made a lot of stuff, and as the years went by we started more and more importing stuff, and we developed this expertise in making foil tape and we kept that, and it became a bit of an anomaly really," Roper said.

The company hoped to absorb some of the affected staff before the closure. The collective agreement provided a "generous" redundancy package, he said.

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