Rhodia to cut 25% of jobs at Dudley

Rhodia Pharma Solutions is reducing the workforce of its Dudley, UK, site by up to 85 jobs in order to improve the competitiveness of its development and custom manufacturing services and intermediates production businesses.

When the restructuring is completed, the site will continue to employ approximately 265 people and remain Rhodia Pharma Solutions' largest operation.

'Following the consolidation of our pharmaceutical businesses into a single enterprise and a review of our strategy and current market conditions, it is clear that we need to simplify and streamline our operations in Dudley,' said Nick Green, president of Rhodia Pharma Solutions.

'These measures reinforce our commitment to the pharmaceutical market by improving our cost position and bolstering our long-term prospects. The restructuring will be implemented without impacting the quality of service to our customers.

'We will do everything we can to minimise the impact of this decision on those people who will be losing their jobs,' added Green. 'Decisions like this are never easy. Because of recent mergers in the pharmaceutical industry and a decreased demand for the kind of services we provide from Dudley, however, we must take these steps in order to better position the site and our business for the future.' The company's goal is to complete the restructuring programme by the end of this year.

Rhodia acquired the Dudley site from ChiRex in 2000. It operated under the name Rhodia ChiRex until becoming part of Rhodia Pharma Solutions in 2003, when Rhodia consolidated its pharmaceutical market businesses into one enterprise.

As part of its long-term strategy, Rhodia Pharma Solutions announced the expansion of its capabilities in Annan, Scotland and Dudley during the past year. The company also confirmed last month that its Chambers Works site in New Jersey, US, where it announced last year it would consolidate North American operations, was up and running and handling new projects.