JCB has announced plans to shed 500 manufacturing and 150 other jobs across its UK sites due to a significant decline in demand and the resulting 20 per cent decrease in 2008 production forecast.
The lack of orders is most likely to have come as a result of the credit crunch, which has been causing serious problems to the construction industry, as well as raw material price increases.
“These job losses are regrettable but absolutely necessary to ensure that JCB remains competitive and well-positioned to benefit from any market upturn,” explained group chief executive Matthew Taylor. “However we do not expect to see a recovery until late 2009 at the earliest.”
