This evening Waterford Crystal (www.waterford.com) representatives have confirmed that they have plans to lay off 490 workers at their plant in Kilbarry, Co Waterford. Worldwide there could be up to 1000 layoffs. They plan to outsource some of the jobs, stating that they are currently uncompetitive in the market. This leaves just 510 workers at the plant, and they will concentrate on the more lucrative higher end and cost competitive products.
Chief executive, John Foley said that the job losses were “regrettable”. The reasons for the lay offs were blamed on the poor dollar/euro rate and the higher operating costs in Ireland. A big proportion of Waterford Crystal’s sales go to the US, and with the revenue from these markets falling 30% in the last year, these markets are no longer as lucrative as before. So it’s a sad day for those in the South East.
[...] Recent Jobs News ESB lay off 500 workers Waterford Crystal confirms job layoffs Celestica bring 120 jobs to Galway C&C to cut 150 jobs Restructuring Friday Article : [...]
Waterford Crystal needs to relook at it’s channel marketing strategy. Declining SALES in the USA are due to the poor USA retail relationships. In my opinion, selling direct to the consumer has hurt the company.
True Ed, Waterford Crystal has been struggling to come up with anything new marketing wise. The product was hugely sucessful in the 80’s but now people are looking for a more modern piece of Irish crystal. They have a great name but haven’t lived up to it recently.
For some reason Ireland thinks the USA consumer is looking for “more modern pieces of Irish Crystal” that is absolutely NOT TRUE. If the retail channels for customer feedback still existed Waterford could get that feedback. Now they just assume and assume WRONG!!!
Interesting Ed, I guess you mean that people in the US still want the “old style” traditional Waterford Crystal and would be more than happy to pay for it. I wonder for Waterford Crystal is it a little on the late side to start doing this ?