The Schaeffler Group (Germany, parent of INA/FAG Bearings) INA UK bearing plant in Bynea, Llanelli, southwest Wales, is suffering its fourth setback in less than a month. The factory manufactures bearings, tappets and tensioner pulleys for the hard-hit auto industry.

Last month, the vast majority of Llanelli's employees were put on four day workweeks, "to safeguard the future of our plant." There will also be an extended shutdown over the Christmas holidays.

Now, Schaeffler has notified Llanelli that it will lose tensioner pulley production to the massive INA Kysucke Nove Mesto plant in the Slovak Republic. And it will lose approximately 60 jobs associated with tensioner pulley production.

The Nove Mesto facilities are geared to producing highly price-sensitive automotive sizes and standard industrial bearings. Shifting production to the Slovak Republic from higher cost plants has allowed INA to stay competitive with those items on the world market; essentially all of the bearings produced there are exported to OEM customers worldwide.

2005 article: INA expanding bearing plant in Slovakia

2007 article: EC grants incentives for INA Kysucke Nove Mesto expansion
Beyond those 60 jobs, losing tensioner pulleys is a particularly sore blow for Llanelli workers; convincing INA to keep the product line there was a hard-won source of pride.

In a 2001 production realignment, INA announced tensioner pulley manufacturing would be pulled from Llanelli and moved to Slovakia by 2004. But workers organized with local government incentives and specialty training to gain additional skills and productivity. By 2003, their progress and commitment convinced INA to agree to keep tensioner pulleys at Llanelli after all. Now, six years later, they are sure to be lost, along with the jobs.

There is positive news for the Llanelli factory, however. INA now says mechanical tappet production will likely be moved there from plants in Germany, making it the "center" of Schaeffler's mechanical tappet production. Schaeffler also said it is investigating the possibility of moving some of INA's other automotive and non-automotive parts production to Llanelli.

Built in 1966, Llanelli has been expanded several times throughout the years and now covers more than 7,000 square meters. Employment currently stands at approximately 250, down from 320 only a short time ago.

In 2007, INA Llanelli won Carmarthenshire Business of the Year; last month, the plant won the Wales Quality Award 2008 for manufacturing excellence. It has also won several other awards, including Welsh People Development Company of the Year at the 2003 Welsh Business Awards -- ironically tied to its efforts holding on to the tensioner pulley business.