AST to maintain plant in Limerick

AST Computer in Limerick is to maintain its operations at a reduced scale but will move to a new premises, the managing director of the facility has said. Speaking from London, Mr Kurt Jun, who is also the vice-president of operations and marketing for AST Europe, ended speculation that the plant, owned by the ailing Korean corporate company, Samsung Electronics, would close or transfer operations to the UK.A series of redundancies among its 430 workers began in January as part of a global restructuring plan."We are going to move into another facility and we plan to announce it within a short period of time," he said.He said that the company would keep 135 of its workers, who are involved in the production of Bravo computers.However, it is understood that the plant will now concentrate solely on customer and technical support, with manufactured units being brought in from cheaper overseas locations.AST has sold its premises at the Plassey Technological Park in Castletroy, on the east side of the city, to Dell Computer which plans to move into the plant over the coming months as part of its £180 million expansion programmeAST's new location will be in Ratheen Industrial Estate, on the west of the city where Dell's manufacturing base is located. Mr Jun added that the move would necessarily involve a new investment programme. Samsung has stated that it plans to sell $300 million (£218 million) worth of buildings in London, Singapore and New York as part of its restructuring plan.