Six of the 15 people for working for Ricoh in Dunedin have been made redundant, as the multinational expands services in new directions.
Ricoh, which is expanding in New Zealand and has more than 300 staff, last year purchased Dunedin company SCL Computing.
An anonymous source contacted the Otago Daily Times about the redundancies this week and Ricoh's operations manager for IT (information and technology) services Andrew Jackson, was contacted for comment yesterday.
He confirmed six Dunedin staff, three from administration and three technicians, had been made redundant. No other staff were affected in New Zealand.
He said Dunedin ''was not being downsized''. Negotiations were under way to move Ricoh's Dunedin IT staff and photocopy division together ''under one roof'''.
The redundancies arose from Ricoh's ''strategic direction'', in balancing the skills of Dunedin staff to ''align with Ricoh's [business] strategy''.
While it is best known for photocopiers, Ricoh's services also include commercial printing and printers, digital cameras, management of paper-based and digital information and live audio and video communication.
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union yesterday said pen manufacturer Bic had confirmed it will lay off all its 19 Auckland-based manufacturing staff, claiming some staff of more than 30 years service were being offered only only six weeks' redundancy pay.
