Another 90 face the axe at Brook Crompton as sales are devolved

Brook Crompton expects to axe another 90 jobs in the UK as part of its continuing restructuring. The latest move involves the loss of about a third of the remaining jobs at its Huddersfield headquarters, as well as about a dozen jobs each at its Birmingham and Guiseley plants.

Following last year`s rationalisation of its manufacturing operations, Brook Crompton is now restructuring is sales and distribution operations by setting up regional sales and distribution companies around the world. The first of these, covering mainland Europe, has been registered in the Netherlands. A new sales company is also being established in the UK.

Until now, Brook Crompton has been servicing sales of electric motors to most of its global markets from the Huddersfield site. This has included pre- and post-order support and logistics. These functions are now being transferred to local operations.

"Almost 60% of our business is in international markets," explains managing director Steve Crowther (above). "Like many other industries, we are finding an increasing emphasis is required on the service front. Customers need more flexible support than ever before, hence our plans to create new sales and distribution companies to address our primary markets in the UK and Europe."

For many years, Brook Crompton has had autonomous sales and service operations in the US and Canada and the new businesses are being modelled on them. "Autonomous is the key word," says Crowther. "They are free to develop to best suit their regions and customs."

After the latest cutbacks, the Huddersfield site will employ about 150 people. It will remain Brook Crompton`s headquarters and will also be the base for the new UK sales company.

Brook Crompton will continue to deal directly with some international markets from Huddersfield. "Regions like the old Soviet Bloc, the new petrochem economies and the Asian `tiger` economies all require individual attention, so arrangements for them are reviewed regularly - as are certain specific industrial sectors," Crowther says.

Brook Crompton says that the changes will not affect production at the Guiseley and Blackheath, Birmingham sites. The company is talking to employees representatives about the planned redundancies in the UK.