The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Manufacturing Manufacturing Of Furniture And Other Manufacturing Other Manufacturing 32 - Other manufacturing
New offshoring locations
Not Available
500 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
4 September 2009
Employment effect (start)
4 September 2009
Foreseen end date
30 June 2011
Description
American eye health company Bausch and Lomb have announced 500 job losses as it closes its factory in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. The company, which makes disposable contact lenses, plans to move the work to its existing sites in Waterford, Ireland and Rochester, New York state, over the next year and early 2011 as part of a global restructuring program. It stated that the plans would create about 30 new jobs in Rochester but no additional positions in Waterford. Gerald Ostrov, chairman and chief executive, said the announcement came after months of careful consideration, reviewing factors such as proximity to established research and development resources, substantial total cost savings, global operational efficiencies and future investment potential.
"The long-term cost savings - hundreds of millions of pounds - will provide crucial funding as part of a broader global effort to reinvest in our business, including increasing professional and consumer contact lens demand worldwide," he said. Bausch & Lomb employs more than 10,000 people worldwide.
Finance Secretary John Swinney said: "The Scottish Government has been in contact with the company at senior level. A phased withdrawal from Livingston over the next 21 months allows us to continue discussions with the company." Meanwhile Scottish Labour's economy & skills spokesman John Park called on the Scottish Government to do everything in its power to persuade Bausch & Lomb not to close its plant
Sources
5 September 2009: BBC Website
4 September 2009: The Financial Times
Citation
Eurofound (2009), Bausch and Lomb, Offshoring/Delocalisation in United Kingdom, factsheet number 69511, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/69511.
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