Firm Closure Will Cost 100 Jobs ; Award-Winning Company Tells Staff: We'll Shut in December

Gloucestershire Echo, The › October 02, 2009

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Summary

MORE than 100 people working at a Cheltenham engineering company are set to lose their jobs. Staff at Formflo Ltd, which makes specialist components for car gearboxes, have been told the company will be shut down by the end of the year. All 103 jobs at the plant in Lansdown Industrial Estate, in Gloucester Road, are believed to be going - even though the award-winning company made a profit last year. Formflo's parent company Tomkins, based in London, is reportedly looking to close at least 15 plants this year as part of a cost-cutting exercise project called Cheetah. One employee at Formflo, who did not wish to be named, said: "

There was a formal meeting for everyone on Friday where we were told we would be shut down by December. " The management here have been really good, they've communicated with us all along. Jobs set to go at Formflo ? from page 1 "We're told it's because Gates, the Canadian parent company which owns Tomkins, wants to c o n c e n t r a t e o n e n e r g y - e f f i c i e n t g r e e n products." T h e C h e l t e n h a m f i r m m a k e s c l o s e l y engineered synchroniser sleeves and constant velocity cages which are built into gearboxes and drive shafts used by Porsche, Nissan, Renault, Land Rover and GM cars including Vauxhall and Opel. The employee claimed the company made a profit, despite the recession, having shed 35 jobs and changing working patterns. They said: "We voted for redundancies 100 per cent and also to go to a four-day week. We have done everything we can to help the company and to make it profitable and they're just going to shut us down." It is understood Tomkins is hoping to sell the company's machinery to a Germany company. But the staf f member, who will be made redundant just before Christmas, said that the manufacturing process used by the Cheltenham company is unique and needs special skills. He said: "Nobody can make what we make with zero waste to the tolerances we do

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Firm Closure Will Cost 100 Jobs ; Award-Winning Company Tells Staff: We'll Shut in December

It's a unique process developed in Cheltenham, and we're all very skille...

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