Jobs not at risk in Farra restructure
A RESTRUCTURING at Dunedin’s Farra Engineering is unlikely to displace any of the 154 staff employed in Dunedin or Christchurch.
Farra Engineering chief executive Gareth Evans contacted the ODT to outline the restructuring, which was brought on by the complexity of operating multiple companies, plus Christchurch business ShapeNZ, which was purchased in March last year.
No shop floor jobs would be lost, Mr Evans said.
In management there would be role changes but no job losses were expected.
There are 110 staff in Dunedin and 46 in Christchurch. The restructuring should be completed by midOctober.
Farra’s current companies — the main holding company, machinery, metal fabrication, stainless steel, sheetmetal, engineering, design and ShapeNZ — will now be put under Heavy Engineering and Light Engineering units, and a separate project management unit covering design and innovation.
Mr Evans said initial inef ficiencies came to light when it was found 20% of all invoicing was between the Farra companies.
He said the restructuring was also focused on potential growth markets in the maintenance of large dams, dairy processing plants and aluminium smelters.
The combined income from specialist access units and aluminium pot maintenance was around $1.5 million to $2 million this year, and he expected about 50% growth in the future.