OREANDA-NEWS. August 11, 2014. PKC Estonia, which manufactures electronics for the automotive industry, will close its factory in Haapsalu by the end of the year, which will result in 347 local jobs being terminated or transferred.

Parent company PKC, based in northern Finland, manufactures and integrates electrical distribution systems, electronics and related components for the commercial vehicle industry. Its plant in Keila, which employs 826, will remain open. The smaller plant in Haapsalu manufactures wiring components.

The company informed the factory workers' representatives and the impending closure of the factory in Haapsalu in a meeting Wednesday and contacted the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the cooperation with related government authorities. About 100 of the employees will be offered positions at Keila, which is expanding its role within PKC to become the company's main center for Europe- and Brazil-bound products.

The company said that its objective is to maximize the production capacity in Europe in modern competitive factories in Serbia and Lithuania. Two of the production lines at Haapsalu will be transferred to Lithuania, the other two to Keila.

Haapsalu is a largely tourist-oriented town on the western coast, population 11,600.