Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. is considering closing its large-scale machine tool manufacturing plant in Hiroshima as early as 2003 due to slack demand, company officials said Wednesday.
The move by Japan's largest comprehensive maker of heavy machinery is part of a restructuring plan for domestic machine tool manufacturing operations, they said.
The company is considering transferring facilities at the Hiroshima plant to a plant for small machine tools in Ritto, Shiga Prefecture, the officials said.
About 270 workers at the Hiroshima plant are expected to be moved to other factories or divisions.
The Hiroshima plant serves as a production base for large-scale machine tools used for processing car parts. The company also owns another plant in Hiroshima that makes bridges.
Takashi Nishioka, president of the company, has said the firm will review machine tool manufacturing operations under a business plan for 2002 to 2005 in the hope of regaining profitability in the business in 2003.