Omron To Close Chip Parts Plant In Japan, Plus Plants in UK & China

Omron Corp. announced plans to close a Japan chip component plant and two factories overseas. The manufacturer of automated control equipment is schedulted to close its Minakuchi factory in Shiga Prefecture in June, transferring output of chip circuitry and other parts to a larger facility in the same prefecture. The 95 full-time workers at the Minakuchi site will be transferred.

An autoparts factory in the U.K. will be closed by March 2011. Omron plans to meet European demand with supplies shipped from other facilities.

The company will also remove itself from the manufacture of large-LCD backlights, a business it entered in 2004. This operation is said to have consistently lost money, and the company saw no room for an upturn. Omron suspended output at a Chinese factory in Jiangsu Province last September, but will now close the facility.