The West Midland manufacturing sector has been hit by a further jobs blow after automotive components firm GKN Driveline announced it was shedding more than 140 jobs.
The company, which employs nearly 700 people at its site in Erdington, said the cuts were the result of a struggling European car industry and high material and energy costs.
GKN said that the job losses would be across the entire operation, but would not affect levels of production at the Erdington site.
"We have to make sure the plant remains efficient under some horrendous pressures," a spokesman for the company said. "We can't continue to absorb the rising costs of steel, energy and other raw materials." Management was yesterday in consultation with staff and GKN Driveline said it would be providing retraining for all those facing redundancy.
The group also said the Erdington plant, which produces drive shafts, would continue to supply the UK operations of Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Land Rover and Jaguar. GKN has made no secret of the fact that it is reducing its presence in North America and Western Europe as the automotive markets in Brazil, India and China begin to boom.
In January, the closure of Lichfield-based GKN Sinter Metals was announced with the loss of 175 jobs.
The decision to shut the firm was made as part of a scaling back of the group's powder metal operations, which also saw three American plants axed.
