Toshiba shifts TV production from UK to Poland

The Japanese group has started consultations amongst its 320 permanent staff at the facility, blaming the closure and the likely loss of 250 jobs on a decision in Japan to consolidate European television production in Kobierzyce, Poland.

Toshiba said it would retain a core staff of about 50 at the Ernsettle facility to repair televisions and advise the Polish team.

Andy Bass, managing director of Toshiba Information Systems in Britain, said that centralisation of production made sense in the face of "unprecedented economic pressures."

He said: "We deeply regret the loss of jobs. However, Toshiba has to keep its global manufacturing strategy under constant review in order to compete in a market which has been transformed in recent years by aggressive, price-driven competition.

"We have 28 years of history with Plymouth, and are indebted both to the people who have worked with us over those years, and to the wider local community."

Earlier this year, in response to a story that another Japanese group, Sanyo, was to close its plant in Lowestoft, England and that this would spell the end of TV manufacturing in the U.K. Toshiba contacted EE Times Europe pointing out that the company "is still here in Plymouth making televisions".

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