Amateur Photographer Magazine

Olympus UK staff face 'difficult' time (update)

Friday 26th September 2008

Chris Cheesman

Olympus UK staff face a fretful few weeks waiting to see how the impact of 'integration' with the firm's medical and industrial businesses will affect them.

Earlier this month the move to combine the two management teams led to the departure of Olympus UK managing director Graeme Chapman.

Olympus UK is responsible for the Camera, Audio and Life Science businesses and is based in Watford, Hertfordshire.

It is set to combine with Olympus KeyMed Group Limited, which is located in Southend-on-Sea in Essex.

An Olympus UK spokesman told us that the 'likely outcome is that we will move the Watford-based activities to the Olympus KeyMed site at Southend'.

Though not the official line from Olympus, a UK staff member told us: 'This is a difficult time for staff here and we don't really know what the situation is ourselves.'

Paul Hillman, group managing director of Olympus KeyMed, has become the new MD of Olympus UK, with responsibility for both organisations.

Hillman said in a statement: 'The objective is to improve what we offer to our customers in terms of products, service and support. Bringing together our expertise in precision optics and electronics with our considerable experience in medical and surgical endoscopy will allow us to offer so much more.'

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