Corning is proposing to close its Sunderland factory with the loss of 100 jobs. The US group said it could no longer justify investing in the Wear Glass Works because of declining profitability over the past few years. The plant makes specialist glass products, such as laboratory beakers & flasks for the group's life sciences division, & rolled sheet glass used in car headlights for its speciality materials division. A 90-day consultation period with employees & unions began on 9 Oct. The Sunderland facility's financial performance & its cost structure suffered badly over the past few years despite a number of cost cutting measures. Corning has operated from this site since 1973. In 1994, it sold a large part of the plant making consumer glassware under the Pyrex brand to US rival Newell. In Jan/06, that site, employing over 230, was sold to France's Arc International.
