Ethics in the digital workplace
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
Fuji Manufactoring Europe is closing a production line in its factory in Tilburg, the Netherlands. As a consequence 111 jobs will be lost, of which 80 are employees with a permanent contract.
The production line in Tilburg currently produces offset plates for the printing industry, which still makes up for a large portion of the revenue. The company has had to reinvent itself in recent decades after the disappearance of the market for photographic film. Fuji now makes offset plates in Tilburg for the graphic industry and high-quality color photo paper for photo book suppliers such as Albelli, Hema and CeWe. The offset plates market, however, is a problematic market due to the increasing digitalisation of its traditional markets, for example newspapers, and the growing competition from China.
The company is differentiating its production and it is building a factory for the development and production of so-called cell culture media for the biopharmaceutical industry. These are powders and liquids in which cells can be soaked for clinical testing and cell therapy.
Eurofound (2019), Fuji Manufacturing Europe, Internal restructuring in Netherlands, factsheet number 98107, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/98107.