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Many workers from north Kerry and Limerick are employed at the plant
Kostal
Around 140 jobs are to be axed at the Kostal Abbeyfeale plant as part of the company’s plans to move its operations to China later this year.
The announcement was made at a special meeting between staff and management on Thursday evening. Two company directors from Germany arrived in Kerry earlier on Thursday ahead of the meeting.
Confirmation of the redundancies comes as a devastatig blow to the Listowel and north Kerry region where much of the company’s workforce is based.
Of the 140 job losses, 95 are operator roles and 45 non-operator positions. The company’s Abbeyfeale manufacturing plant will cease OBC (onboard charger) production sometime in Quarter 4 of 2026.
In a WhatsApp message circulated to Kostal workers, management said the transfer decision is ‘both significant and disappointing’ for Kostal’s Abbeyfeale employees.
The statement added that its decision to close is no reflection whatsoever on the people employed in Kostal Ireland.
Factors for the decision include availability of excess production capacity in China, and OBC products approaching end of life with no successor products for Kostal Ireland.
The need to align with the company’s global strategic direction for power electronics production was also cited as a reason for the closure.
There are approximately 360 people still employed at Kostal Abbeyfeale.
Kostal’s plant in Mallow, which produces a separate line of automotive products, is not impacted by the OBC production decision.
KOSTAL announced in October 2024 that it was looking to reduce its workforce by 60 after staff were issued with a letter outlining the changes. This has since been extended.
The German-based company said the board’s decision was ‘not made in haste’ but that KOSTAL ‘experienced, and is experiencing challenges’ due to lower sales of carlines using its OBCs.