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Precision Woodworking not closed, diversifying – Senior Manager

May 01, 2009 News

A Senior Manager of Precision Woodworking has told this newspaper that contrary to a Stabroek News article the company has not closed down.
The manager, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the management did indeed send home the 30-odd factory workers since production has been too low. He noted that the global financial crisis has impacted the company severely.
According to him, the company is working on diversifying its product range and intends to recall workers when the situation stabilises.
He stated that they are reconstructing the company to offer a more diverse range of products rather than focusing on just one area.
“We lost a lot of orders so we decided that we need to reconstruct the company but we haven’t closed down,” the manager noted.
He added that the staff received their severance pay partially, with letters explaining what is owed to them.
“We are just not able to keep the factory going at this point in time. We have been dragging out production to keep the workers going.”
He told Kaieteur News that for this year they have had a very small amount of orders compared to what they usually get.
“We have been talking to our bankers and we have their support…we are going through a phase and we have to try to come out of it successfully.”
The manager gave no guarantees that there will not be a closure of the company but said that they are working assiduously to ensure this does not happen.
According to him, the company’s problems began last year and the management was already forced to send home some of the employees earlier in the year.
On Wednesday the remainder of the staff was sent home. This newspaper understands that exports have dropped significantly.
In an earlier interview, Chief Executive Officer of John Fernandes Limited, Chris Fernandes, said that exports are down significantly where his company is concerned.
He added that imports, while down, are only down marginally but as it relates to the exports there is cause for concern.
“Containerized export cargo movement is down about 50 percent on average over the last three months and that is significant…that is big. So it’s worrying times to say the least,” Fernandes had said.
John Fernandes Limited is one of the main cargo dealers in Guyana and has been so for many a decades.
Fernandes pointed out that it is impacting his company because they have done quite a bit of export facilitation with respect to timber for which exports have been on the decline heavily.
“We have found in the last three months particularly the timber exports have been on the decline so much so it’s starting to impact on our earnings and we have in fact taken a decision to freeze employment.”
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud has said that for the first quarter of this year the export value in the forestry sector has been close to US$8M and for the same period last year it was about US$12M.
However, he pointed out that production has gone up by 25 percent in the first quarter when compared to last year.

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