CMI Vic factories forced to close with no buyers in sight

26/07/2012 - Troubled car parts supplier CMI Industrial will close two Melbourne factories, with 119 jobs to be lost — because no buyers can be found for them.

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The company's Campbellfield and West Footscray sites will close at the end of October, receivers Keith Crawford and Matthew Caddy say.

"It was disappointing for all concerned that sales could not be achieved," they said in a statement on Wednesday.

Crawford said 67 employees at Campbellfield and 52 employees at West Footscray would be made redundant.

The two sites will continue to be supported by customers under existing supply contracts and would trade until the end of October, he said.

CMI is a components manufacturer for the automotive, white goods, transportation and water storage industries.

Car manufacturer Ford Australia announced last week that it will shed 440 jobs at its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants in Victoria.

A spokeswoman for Manufacturing Minister Richard Dalla-Riva said it was disappointing the administrators were unable to find a buyer for CMI's Campbellfield and West Footscray sites.

"The Department of Business and Innovation is actively working with the company and administrators to provide advice and support to the workforce, including through the Workers in Transition program recently announced in the budget," she said.

"The Department of Business and Innovation has been in regular discussions with CMI Industrial's receiver and administrator regarding its Ballarat operation and is prepared to work with potential investors that are looking to turn this business around."

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Victorian assistant state secretary Leigh Diehm said the decision was a blow to workers who had stuck by the company after it was placed into administration, then receivership, then liquidation.

"Today's announcement that the Campbellfield and Footscray CMI plants will close after being unable to find buyers to keep the plants going is a clarion call for all governments to actually back the industry," he said in a statement.

Diehm said governments should strengthen their fleet procurement policies to support local manufacturers.

"If there was greater demand for these auto products, in all likelihood the plants could have remained open," he said.

Source: AAP

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