ALMOST 300 Scottish jobs are likely to be axed by a blood management firm after bosses announced plans to shift production to Malaysia.
US-owned Haemonetics (UK) Limited yesterday announced it is to consult its 270-strong workforce over the future of its site in Bothwell, South Lanarkshire.
The firm, which supplies blood and plasma related products around the world, is hoping to move to a new plant currently under construction in Penang.
It will mean the closure of the Scottish facility, 20 years after it opened, later this year or early in 2015. Haemonetics, which supplies a range of blood and plasma-related products to health services across the world, said affected workers would be dealt with in a "respectful and sensitive way". A briefing to inform staff took place yesterday.
In a statement, it said: "This new facility, expected to be completed next year, is intended to offer Haemonetics much improved proximity to customers in its fastest growing markets and to a number of key suppliers and medical equipment manufacturers.
"In recent years, the balance of products manufactured in Bothwell has been shifting toward Haemonetics' Asia-Pacific markets.
"This shift, as well as the benefits of consolidating manufacturing in one state-of-the-art facility, close to a growing number of suppliers in a lower cost area, has led the company to propose ending manufacturing operations at the Bothwell facility and to supply the European region, as well as Asia-Pacific, from Penang."
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