BIRMINGHAM, UK - Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe (FTEL) has announced that the decision has been finalized to transfer its PCB manufacturing operations to its sister company, Fujitsu Network Communications (FNC) in Richardson, Texas.

According to a company release, the decision was made because of "the continuing volatility in demand for products in the global telecommunications market." The transfer is scheduled for completion by year's end, 2008.

COO Tony Oppenheim, commenting on the board’s decision to move operations said, "This has been an extremely difficult decision, and has been made after intensive consultation over alternative solutions... Unfortunately, the flexibility afforded by the alternatives would not have been sufficient to deal with the degree of demand volatility. We regret the [concern] caused amongst our staff… but the board’s duty is to protect both the long-term interests of the business and the wider workforce as a whole."

FTEL will retain assembly and test functions at its Solihull Birmingham location. In addition, it will create a configuration and staging function in Solihull, which is expected to bring the net loss of jobs to less than 100, rather than the 110 to 140 originally forecast by the company (see previous news report here: pcdandf.com/cms/content/view/4567/160/).

Speaking about the decision to retain some positions at Solihull, Oppenheim went on to say, "We had been informed by the CWU (Communications Workers Union) of further strike action prior to today’s announcement, but hope that with the improved redundancy terms now on offer, this can be averted. We have identified additional new jobs in Solihull and are asking our employees and their representatives to work co-operatively with us to agree final terms."