Firm bucks trend with expansion

With the recent departure of the Noritake-owned Arklow Pottery, the last remaining pottery firm in the town is planning an expansion which it hopes will go some way towards lifting the local community out of its gloom.

Wicklow Vale Pottery, which produces handmade earthenware, is planning to double its employment from 14 to 28 over the next year and it hopes to increase this further over the next five years.

Considering 140 people are losing their jobs at Arklow Pottery, owned by the Japanese company, Noritake, it may not seem much, but Wicklow Vale's chief executive, Mr Eamonn Cunningham, says it counters recent depictions of the town as a place where nothing positive happens.

The irony of the planned expansion is that Wicklow Vale was set up by four ex-Noritake employees.

The plan by the company to double its small payroll due to a quadrupling of its sales is one of the few pieces of good news the town has heard after a series of industrial setbacks. While Wicklow Vale and the ceramics firm, Qualceram, are reporting increased profits, many in the town do not know if Arklow's long connection with pottery can be maintained.

When Tanaiste, Ms Mary Harney, visited the town recently to discuss replacements for Arklow Pottery, councillors and trade unionists spoke to her about the success of Wicklow Vale.

The local newspaper, the Wicklow Times, in a strongly worded attack on Ms Harney, said she and everyone else could "learn a lesson from the innovative Wicklow Vale company which is thriving".

Mr Cunningham says the lesson is that the multinational company which received thousands of pounds in State-aid is closing down, while his indigenous Irish firm, which has received no assistance, is growing.

Since the closure of Arklow Pottery was announced he has been inundated with requests for work from Noritake workers. "I would like to give them all work, but I can't, this town is full of potters," he says.

During Ms Harney's visit, local politicians were told 12 companies had expressed initial interest in the Arklow Pottery premises, but this had been reduced to one. Mr Cunningham says most people in the town do not expect the plant to be purchased.

Noritake has already stopped production at the plant, but the retail operation stays open until June, which leaves little time for a replacement to be found.

"We have bought a fair bit of equipment from the Noritake plant, but we certainly would not be able to fill the plant and others do not seem anxious either," says Mr Cunningham.

He says the reason for Arklow Pottery's closure competition from cheaper imports is also something Wicklow Vale faces.

"We are able to compete against cheaper imports by not going head-to-head with them we realise that the multinationals could spend our turnover in one small advertising campaign," he says.

He says the pottery industry is going through a lean time at the moment. However, the suggestion that potters and pottery firms might work closer together, he greets with scepticism. "Getting potters together is like trying to get a group of artists to work together on the same painting".

He does not blame Noritake for moving out and says the company simply has to be closer to the markets where it sells most of its products.

ail TD, Mr Dick Roche, (FF) who says that every meeting in Arklow seems to be a crisis one. meeting. Councillor Mary Whitty told Ms Harney at the recent meeting that the Government has a "moral obligation" to make sure pottery remains synonymous with Arklow.

"We feel under a lot of pressure in Arklow as the only ones left, but we cannot support everyone," says Mr Cunningham.

He says the most damaging element of Noritake's recent announcement was that customers presumed Wicklow Vale was also closing. "We have not closed and remain very much open," he said.