DEVRO Australia began a consultation process with employees on Tuesday about a restructure that may lead to as many as eight redundancies at its Kelso factory over the next two weeks.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The company said in a statement that the changes proposed involve “a combination of redundancies, role changes and the creation of new roles”.
“The scope of these changes will focus on management and supervisory positions and roles within quality control, technical, engineering and supply chain,” it said.
The company said it was committed to redeployment and voluntary redundancy, where possible.
“We are an exporter as well as supplying to the Australian market. We need to make these changes to keep pace with recent developments in our industry so that we remain competitive,” Devro general manager in Bathurst Dean Patton said.
The company said the aim of the changes was to increase its “overall efficiencies for the global business in an increasingly competitive market-place with changing customer needs”.
The company, one of the world’s leading suppliers of collagen casings for sausage and other meat products, employs a 220-strong workforce at its Kelso factory and has been a major employer in Bathurst since 1979.
It also has manufacturing sites in the United Kingdom, USA, the Czech Republic and China.
“There is now increasing pressure from the cheaper foreign imports,” the company said in its statement.
“The Bathurst plant supplies the Australasian market with over 50 per cent of that product being exported.”
Devro Australia says it is reviewing every aspect of the business in order “to find opportunities to unlock potential”.