Philips to transfer UK production activities to the Netherlands

Philips

Philips is planning to close its factory in the English village of Glemsford in 2020. Much of the production will be transferred to Drachten in the north of the Netherlands, where the company already has a large manufacturing facility making products such as razors.

It should be pointed out that the closure of the Glemsford factory is not related to the Brexit situation. Philips has been working for some time now to reduce its number of manufacturing locations from 50 to 30 in order to achieve economies of scale and cut logistics costs.

According to Philips, the majority of the products made in Glemsford are sold outside of the UK. The main products are Avent-branded baby supplies such as soothers, bottles and electrical bottle sterilizers.

Compulsory redundancies

Approximately 400 employees currently work at the factory in Glemsford. Compulsory redundancies are not being ruled out. The Philips factory in Drachten employs around 2,000 people. Incidentally, Philips previously transferred a substantial part of its razor manufacturing activities from China to the Drachten facility.