Komatsu will close its Moss Vale plant by 2030, and the union says the equipment-building work is going to China

Komatsu Mining told workers at its Moss Vale plant on Tuesday that the site will be wound down and closed by 2030, ending mining equipment manufacturing at a site that supports hundreds of local families.

The site employs about 265 people. Staff were told in simultaneous meetings that the closure would be phased over four years as the company restructures its Australian underground mining division.

Komatsu says the plant will run normally during the transition and existing customer contracts will be delivered on schedule. Under the plan, Rutherford in the Hunter Valley will expand its electrical, overhaul and rebuild work, and Rockhampton will take on more gearbox and assembly work. Some fabrication and machining will go to outside Australian suppliers.

Why is Komatsu doing this?

Helen Gibson, vice-president of the company’s underground soft rock business in Australasia, said the restructure was part of a broader strategic reset and was needed to simplify operations and stay sustainable over the long term.

“Our employees were among the first to know and, importantly, there will be no immediate changes for them,” she said. The company says it planned a multi-year transition deliberately, to give staff time to weigh their options.

Where is the work really going?

That is where the company’s account and the union’s part ways. Nathan Everson, a senior organiser with the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, said Komatsu told union representatives that original equipment work, the building of new mining machines, would transition to China. He said the company described its local fabrication and machining as no longer competitive.

Mr Everson said workers had been blindsided, and that the cuts would come in six phases through to 2030. He said the Rutherford plant would also lose some work, and that it would be a struggle for Moss Vale workers to find similar jobs in the area.

Komatsu’s own statements describe the change as consolidation into its Australian sites and suppliers, and do not mention China.

What does it mean for the Southern Highlands?

A factory of 265 skilled workers anchors more than its own payroll. Business Southern Highlands chair Greg Welsh estimated the region could lose about $20 million a year in household spending, felt by local shops and by the engineering, hydraulics and component suppliers that serve the plant.

To put that in household terms, $20 million a year is roughly $75,000 per job, the wages and spending that move through cafes, trades and schools in a town of Moss Vale’s size. Mr Welsh said families would be uprooted, with children in local schools.

The four-year runway softens the blow, but it also means a long period of uncertainty. Until consultation begins in January, workers will not know which of the six phases their job falls in.

What are governments doing?

NSW Domestic Manufacturing Minister Courtney Houssos said she was disappointed, had been in contact with the union and would monitor the impact. The federal Labor MP for Whitlam, Carol Berry, will meet Komatsu on Thursday to ask why the plant is closing and how workers will be supported. Goulburn MP Wendy Tuckerman called the closure deeply disappointing, and Wingecarribee Mayor Erin Foley said the council would seek its own meeting with the company.

What support will workers get?

Komatsu says it will offer an employee transition and outplacement program for eligible staff, confidential counselling for workers and their families, and help for apprentices to finish their qualifications. It will consider suitable vacancies at Rutherford and Rockhampton and assess relocation help case by case.

The bigger picture

The detail of the plan matters. What Komatsu is keeping in Australia is the overhaul, rebuild, electrical and gearbox work: servicing machines that are already in mines. What is leaving Moss Vale is the building of new ones. For a country whose governments say they want to make more at home, that split is the part to watch.