Type
Internal restructuring
Country
United Kingdom
Region
Location of affected unit(s)
Yarnton
Sector
Manufacturing
Manufacture Of Computer, Electrical Electronic And Optical Products
Manufacture Of Computer, Electronic And Optical Products
26.60 - Manufacture of irradiation, electromedical and electrotherapeutic equipment

100 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
17 October 2014
Employment effect (start)
1 January 2015
Foreseen end date
31 December 2015

Description

American based Agilent technologies is to implement 300 job cuts worldwide, of which 100 will come from its UK site in Norfolk. The company which manufactures a range of diagnostic equipment has decided to discontinue production of nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer in order to focus on other more profitable areas of the business. No definitive timetable is yet outlined for the job losses, but it is reported that the losses will be implemented over the next year. The majority of the job cuts will be at the site in Yarnton, Norfolk and at the California headquarters in Santa Clara.

Update, 31/03/2015: Agilent has confirmed that it is currently undertaking a customer review and that the process is expected to take one to two months. The intention is to maintain a presence at the Yarnton site to deliver ongoing customer support.  Prior to the announcement of job cuts in October 2014 the site employed 120 staff. Some have already left since the announcement, though numbers are not known. The company has announced that following the customer review it expects that a maximum of two dozen staff might be reatined, but has also acknowledged that the number could be less than a dozen.


Sources

  • 23 October 2014: Chemistry World
  • 17 October 2014: QMed
  • 31 March 2015: Herald Series

Citation

Eurofound (2014), Agilent Technologies, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 77759, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/77759.