LG.Philips Displays To Close Two UK Plants
May 23, 2003		  Print this page
LG.Philips Displays announced the planned closure of its plants in Newport, Wales and Southport, England and began consultations with employees and trade union representatives. At Newport, 870 jobs will be lost when production ceases in the middle of August 2003, while 71 jobs will go at Southport when that plant closes at the end of this year or early 2004.

The company's plant at Newport in South Wales produces color display tubes, or CDT, for monitors and color picture tubes, or CPT, for televisions as well as deflection yokes. A sharp decline in the market for CDTs, due to increasing competition from other display technologies also supplying products for use in computer monitors, and severe downward pressure on prices for CDT and CPT, are said to be the primary reasons for the closure.

The Southport plant produces ferrite powder for deflection yoke rings, which are used in the production of computer and television tubes. The decision to close the plant was taken when it became clear the site was simply no longer viable. This is because the powder it produces for the manufacture of television tubes can now be sourced much more economically in China. Tool supplies can now also be provided by local manufacturers to the LG.Philips Displays plants in China and Poland. LG.Philips Displays is a joint venture between LG Electronics Inc and Royal Philips Electronics N.V. (Reuters)

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