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39 years ago Intersurgical opened in Guernsey with factory floor and office staff employed, some of whom worked for the global medical equipment manufacturer for many years.
Today all of the 90 staff currently employed by Intersurgical were told that their contracts have been terminated with immediate effect.
They were all called to a meeting at 09:00 today and were told the Guernsey factory is closing.
Confirming the news in a statement to the media, Group Managing Director Charles Bellm said "it is with sadness and regret that we have decided to close our Guernsey site. We have done all we can to try and turn the loss making site around, but we simply cannot continue to sustain the current financial losses brought on by a number of factors outside of our control."
The closure has been blamed on the site becoming "uncompetitive in the global economic environment" with the company no longer able to subsidise the Guernsey operation.
Pictured: Intersurgical is a global manufacturer of medical supplies.
90 people are believed to have been employed by Intersurgical prior to today's announcement.
The staff roll had fluctuated over the years - with almost 120 employed during Spring 2020.
The majority of the workforce were employed on the manufacturing line. They helped produce medical equipment which was sold around the world.
Intersurgical said it makes and supplies "a wide range of high quality medical devices for respiratory support" and that it provides "flexible patient solutions for airway management, anaesthesia, critical care and oxygen & aerosol therapy, for use within emergency care, hospitals and also in the home".
Launching in 1982, the firm was based in the UK initially, starting with the production of a range of oxygen masks. Seven people were employed in 1982, with the website stating that Intersurgical today employs over 3000 people.
Pictured: In recent years, Intersurgical has operated its Guernsey operations out of a building on the Pitronnerie Road Industrial Site.
A woman working for Intersurgical in Guernsey this morning told Express that the company has been in the island for 39 years and that she had worked for them for 15 years.
Initially Intersurgical was called Lifeline Ltd and it operated out of the Braye Road Industrial Estate from 1983. It later moved to Pitronnerie Road Industrial Estate.
In 2008, in an interview with the Guernsey Press marking the firm's 25th anniversary of operating in the island, the then-Managing Director said that "innovation and automation have been key to Intersurgical's success over the years" but that the company had moved the bulk of its manufacturing operations to Lithuania in the mid 1990s as a result of rising costs in Guernsey.
At that time (2008), Intersurgical employed 102 people locally. it had employed 235 at its peak locally but the number of roles available fell as technological advances meant more of the work was automated.
Intersurgical employed more staff at short notice in 2020 though, when the Covid-19 pandemic was causing increased demands for respiratory devices and other medical equipment that it could make.
In Guernsey, with some people losing their jobs in other sectors, the firm was able to offer immediate starts with the factory open 24-hours a day for a while to keep up with demand.
Pictured: Intersurgical employed 117 people locally during early 2020, when it took on more staff to meet demands caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Intersurgical was praised at that time for its involvement in efforts to make much-needed products that would help to save the lives of some people who contracted the corona virus.
The equipment made included the connections between patients and their ventilators, tubes and filters. These products were sent to hospitals in Guernsey, the UK and the rest of the world.
The Manufacturing Manager at the time, David Inder told Express that output has increased within the factory by over 36%, and was standing at around 90,000 products per day during April 2020.
Rotas were altered to create a third shift pattern on the Assembly line so that the work could continue 24 hours a day, with former employees returning to work for Intersurgical, along with students, those that had been laid off work elsewhere and senior staff from a large local building company who came to help because their business was temporarily closed due to the lockdown.
All annual leave was cancelled and staff worked over the Easter Bank-Holiday that year to enable the company to continue producing the medical equipment.
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