Speciality chemicals producer James Robinson is to close down its plant in Huddersfield, transferring production to existing sites in Germany and India. R&D and sales and marketing will remain in the UK, relocated to new premises including purpose-built laboratories, but some 35 manufacturing jobs will be lost.
The company has been manufacturing in Huddersfield since 1840, making it one of the oldest chemical sites in Europe. Originally, it extracted dyestuffs from natural sources such as wood, but soon switched to manufacturing sulphur dyes. From the 1970s, it began to diversify into photographic colours and hair dyes, becoming involved in the photochromic colours sector, used in glass, during the 1990s.
The company was bought by Yule Catto in 1998. Its German facility, in Dieburg, was bought from Mallinckrodt in 1994, and also produces pharmaceutical intermediates; the Indian plant, in Vapi, Gujarat, started operations in 2000, making fluorescent dyes, photographic colour developers and chemical intermediates. ‘This is a sad day for all of us, and marks the end of a rich history of manufacturing at the site,’ says managing director Brendan Catlow.
The Huddersfield facility is the victim of market pressures, Catlow explains. ‘In common with many other companies having manufacturing assets in Europe, James Robinson has felt the impact of the weak US dollar and low-cost imports from Asia,’ he says. ‘Our strong market positions have helped mitigate the impact of these pressures, but we are taking action now to secure the long-term growth potential of our businesses.’
The Chemical Industries Association has presented James Robinson with its Innovation of the Year Award for the Reversacol range of photochromic dyes, used in spectacle lenses. Developed in collaboration with the University of Leeds, the dyes can also be used in plastics, inks and coatings, and have applications for security inks and passport coatings.
