Engineering - Pump firm targeted
WORKERS, MAR 2007 ISSUE
A subsidiary described as "a still profitable, world-class centre of engineering skills" – Weir Pumps of Glasgow – has been sold to a Swiss company, Sulzer, for nearly £50 million. The other price tag is the loss of 450 of its 700 workforce.
The full plans envisage the halving of its British workforce in Glasgow and Leeds from over 1,200 to 600.
The 135-year-old company's products are central to ships' engines, oil installations, desalination plants and power stations. Weir Group boss Mark Selway, who will remain in Glasgow as head of a company that will still employ 8,000 worldwide, said,"China and India are where the growth is in this business, so the question was should we invest in facilities there, or create a serious European player which will be able to compete globally?"