Parting of the way

Production of the Mitsubishi 380 at the Tonsley Park plant concluded yesterday.

Since Mitsubishi announced the plant closure, the company and its staff have been heavily engaged in arranging a soft landing for those made redundant. So far, so good, according to Lenore Fletcher, MMAL's Senior Manager Corporate Communications.

"We've had 450 job offers for our employees. We've done expos, we've had companies come in -- it's just been absolutely constant," she remarked.

"People obviously may not take [the job offers] -- [but] that's just so far. All the employees are going through a whole period of counselling, financial counselling, jobs, resume training, interview training, you name it."

Whilst the Mitsubishi plant closure has been like a death in the family for staff working there, the outlook remains positive for the Adelaide-based firm.

The company's imports have been on a roll and there's no sign that the company will be worse off without a manufacturing presence in Australia. If anything, the company can expect the balance sheets to shift from red to black fairly quickly.

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