Nidec Control Techniques plans to cut jobs in Newtown, Powys

The company, which is part of Nidec – the world’s largest manufacturer of motors used to power hard-disk drives– is one of the biggest employers in Mid Wales with around 350 staff.

Affected employees based in Newtown were told on Thursday (January 19) that a consultation process will soon begin.

The electronics firm said the decision was made in response to market predictions for the coming years in the UK and Europe “remain flat resulting in the need to rebalance production capacity to maintain competitiveness in the future”.

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Control Techniques was founded in Newtown in 1973 and last year celebrated its 50th anniversary. The company develops and manufactures variable speed drive technology and the advancement of automation on the Mochdre Industrial Estate.

Control Techniques said that in response to both the fragility of the global supply chain exposed by the pandemic and sales growth in Asia and North America, it had been making investments to rebalance their global operational footprint to improve service levels by taking product manufacturing closer to the customers.

Vice President of Global Operations Martyn Cray said: “The drives market has been incredibly unpredictable in recent times with customers taking defensive actions as a reaction to insecurities in supply. This has made production capacity planning extremely difficult.

“We are saddened to take these actions today (Thursday, January 18) and have delayed as long as possible whilst we sought confidence in the market outlook.

Inside the Control Techniques factory in Newtown.

“We will continue to invest in our facilities and our people to support our future growth aspirations.”

Anthony Pickering, Nidec Control Techniques President, said: “Today’s proposals are needed to help us build a more sustainable business and unfortunately cannot be delayed any longer.

“I know this will be a difficult and unsettling time for the affected employees and their families. We will work closely with our Employee Committee and government at a national and local level to ensure we provide our employees with as much assistance and support as possible during this process.

“We are committed to being a key employer in the region and a high-quality, reliable partner to our customers both in our local markets and around the globe.

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“We are better positioned now than ever before to serve what is a truly global market. We will continue to grow the Control Techniques business in a sustainable way through the development of high-quality, innovative products, delivered through our talented salesforce and partners into existing and emerging markets.”

Control Techniques said it will make every effort to achieve any possible job losses through voluntary redundancies, though it is important that critical skills are retained. A comprehensive redundancy package and outplacement support services will be made available to those affected.

Staffing levels at the Powys factory were previously increased to deal with the unprecedented demand for their product as the world emerged from the pandemic.  In early 2021, Control Techniques moved all production from China to its primary manufacturing site in Newtown and created 44 new jobs as a result.