Listed company Scott Technology, of Dunedin, has announced 20 redundancies across its Dunedin and Christchurch plants because of diminishing interest in production-line manufacturing.
Scott managing director Chris Hopkins yesterday said of the 20 jobs lost, about 15 were voluntary redundancies, which had "greatly assisted" management as it looked at underperforming and non-core parts of the business.
"Scott Technology is experiencing a change in its business model, with less demand for the traditional machining and fabrication parts of the business and greater demand for our innovation, design and robotics skills," Mr Hopkins said in a statement late yesterday.
About 600 jobs have been lost in Dunedin recently due to closures of the Fisher and Paykel Appliances Mosgiel plant, Tamahine Knitwear and Silver Fern Farms' (formerly PPCS) venison plant at Burnside.
Scott will be left with 165 staff across the country - 60 in Dunedin, 70 in Christchurch and 35 at its recently acquired Auckland-based subsidiary, Rocklabs, which services the mining industry.
Mr Hopkins said lower demand worldwide for appliances resulted in appliance manufacturers reducing or cancelling capital expenditure on new production lines, which had affected Scott Technologies' Christchurch-based appliances division over the past nine months.
