GKN have now announced they have temporarily furloughed around a quarter of their workforce (230 members of staff) due to a drop in demand
A spokesperson for GKN Aerospace told OnTheWight,
“GKN Aerospace is directly linked to our key customers and we continue to follow their demand changes closely during this unprecedented period.
“In response to recent demand reductions and the abrupt closure of some of our customer facilities, we reached an agreement to furlough around 230 employees at our Cowes facility.”
They went on to add,
“We believe this temporary measure will help protect our workforce and secure more permanent jobs for the long-term during what is a challenging period for the industry.
“The site remains operational and we continue to supply customers throughout this period.”
Ventilator production
As reported last month GKN is part of The VentilatorChallengeUK Consortium which has been working hard to investigate production of a range of ventilator design options.
The spokesperson went on to add,
“In addition, the site continues its tireless efforts towards ventilator production in order to help support the NHS and play our part in helping turn the tide against Covid-19.
“We will redeploy as many of the furloughed employees as possible to ventilator production in the coming days and weeks.
“We are extremely proud that GKN Aerospace on the Isle of Wight is playing a key role in this national effort.”
Source: Isle of Wight Radio
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