Ken Skates AM, Minister for Economy and Transport
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
We are naturally disappointed in the announcement and decision today by Schaeffler UK to close their plant in Llanelli. The manufacturing operations will transfer to other existing Schaeffler facilities and the site will close at the end of 2019.
We understand however that the decline in the demand for diesel and Schaeffler’s overcapacity for tappet production, has led to this difficult decision being confirmed.
This will be of course be unsettling for the employees and their families, however we are committed to working with Schaeffler to offer the maximum support to the work force and retain high quality jobs for the region.
We have been encouraged by the approaches we have received by the manufacturing sector in the region to work with Schaeffler.
We are continuing to work with the company and regional partners to support the workforce and I am today setting up a taskforce to take forward that work. The taskforce will be launching its support programme immediately in conjunction with local partners such as the local authority, DWP and Industry Wales. The taskforce is meeting next week.
Our priority remains supporting the workforce in the locality that will be affected by this disappointing announcement.