Jobs threat amid NSK's plans to close two sites

AROUND 350 jobs are at risk after the Japanese owners of an automotive supplier announced plans to end production at two North East plants.

- COREENA FORD Business writer [e-mail]

The NSK site in Peterlee

Tokyo-based NSK announced it has launched a consultation to close its NSK Bearing and AKS Precision Ball sites in Peterlee as part of “structural reforms’ The business produces bearings for customers including Volkswagen and Renault and the majority of its products, used in petrol and diesel and electric vehicles, are shipped to Europe.

But NSK says it has seen “persistent challenges in the profitability of locally manufactured products’, prompting the plans to shut the County Durham sites. It says it plans to close no later than March 2027.

The announcement by NSK Bearings Europe Ltd and AKS Precision Ball Europe Ltd, said it has “entered into formal collective consultation with its union and elected representatives on a proposal to withdraw production from the Peterlee sites in County Durham.