By James Wells
ADELAIDE: Electrolux Home Products (EHP) has announced it will phase out electric cooktop production and axe a further 25 staff members from its manufacturng facilities in Adelaide in addition to the 500 jobs which were cut in mid-September.
According to a statement titled ‘New developments at Electrolux Cooking Plant’, EHP managing director, Trevor Carroll announced that 25 casual roles will be discountinued at a plant that is about to start manufacturing new products.
"Electrolux plans to start production of a new, world-class premium oven at its cooking plant at Dudley Park in Adelaide next year," Carroll said in the statement.
Carroll said that to facilitate this and other projects, electric cooktop production at Dudley Park would be phased out during the same period.
“The new oven project is very exciting and fits with our Australian manufacturing strategy – to focus on making innovative household appliances which the Electrolux consumer insights program has shown people want,” Carroll said.
Carroll added that the cooking products plant had recently been reconfigured to accommodate new oven production lines and to “increase its efficiency, productivity and international competitiveness”.
Carroll confirmed that no permanent positions would be lost at Dudley Park as a result of electric cooktop production being phased out there.
“As cooktops are phased out, jobs associated with their production will be transferred across to the new oven production,” he said.
Carroll added that about 25 casual labour-hire personnel taken on for various projects at Dudley Park would no longer be required following completion of those projects and will leave by mid 2007. New, innovative Electrolux cooktops for the Australian and New Zealand markets will now be imported from the company’s specialist cooktop plant in China.