Primasil moving organic rubber moulding to Czech Republic

By Liz White, ERJ staff

Weobley, UK-Primasil Silicones Ltd is moving its organic rubber unit to the Czech Republic by the end of 2005. This business, acquired last May from Ross-on-Wye-based Nicholson Ltd, accounts for nearly 10 percent of Primasil's turnover, with customers representing a very wide range of industries, said a statement from Primasil's managing director, Steve Wheeler.

Significant progress has been made … enhancing the efficiency and quality of our organic rubber moulding facility,” commented Wheeler, discussing the reasons behind the decision.

But, he added-describing an increasingly familiar scenario in the western European rubber industry- increasing costs mean the long-term manufacture of products that use low-cost materials, and where the labour input is high, is uncertain.”

Wheeler added that the situation is exacerbated” by increasing demands from customers to reduce prices.

Some of the 18 employees currently at Ross-on-Wye will move to the main site at Weobley, near Hereford, and some are helping to set up the new facility in the Czech Republic. Wheeler expects only a handful of forced redundancies

In the firm's specialist silicone operation, the drivers for the transfer of organic rubber manufacturing do not apply. … Silicone is relatively very expensive, and there are not significant cost benefits to be gained by moving to a low labour cost country,” Wheeler commented.