JVC has announced losses of around £230m, up from last year's £37.5m, but says that it has a plan to return the company to profitability by cutting its costs of TV production.
That means the company will no longer make TVs in Japan, and also signals the closure of the company's manufacturing plant in East Kilbride, Scotland, with production there being outsourced to a manufacturer in Poland over the next few months.
JVC had already run into problems over plans to reduce working hours and import circuitboards from Thailand to supply the Scottish factory, announced last Summer and meaning the lost of around 20% of the near-500 workforce - now it seems all the jobs at the factory are to go.
The company's statement says: "JVC will switch from internal production at JVC Manufacturing UK Ltd. to consignment production by an electronic manufacturing service (EMS) company in Eastern Europe, in order to reduce display product manufacturing costs and increase business profitability.
"JVC will also be reducing logistics and material costs through local part procurement in Eastern Europe in conjunction with this move.
"JMUK will begin consultations with union representatives today (April 25, 2008). JVC plans to terminate production at the end of July and initiate company liquidation procedures around September, after the consultation procedures have been completed."
The East Kilbride factory, which had manufactured LCD and CRT TVs, mainly for the UK and European markets, isn't the only victim of JVC's cuts. Production will also cease at the company's plant in Yokosuka, in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture. JVC's plant in Thailand will take up that manufacturing capacity.
Contrary to earlier reports, JVC isn't exiting the Japanese domestic TV market entirely: instead, the company now says it will no longer sell mass-market LCD models, but will concentrate on higher-profit screens of 42in and above.
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