ALMOST 90 jobs have been saved with the sale of a hi-tech manufacturing operation.

Electronics giant Siemens sold its Congleton switchboard manufacturing business to the Alan Taylor Group.

The jobs of 88 employees hung in the balance when the company decided to put the operation up for sale.

More than a third of that total will transfer to the Warrington-based Alan Taylor Group, while the majority of the remainder have been found jobs elsewhere in the Siemens group.

Siemens stressed that no redundancies had taken place following the sale, which was prompted by increasing export competition.

''Under the terms of the contract some 36 employees will transfer to ATG,'' said a Siemens spokesman.

"After a short transitional period, during which ATG will continue to use the Congleton workshop facility, the business will then be establisheed in new premises in the immediate locality.''

Ron Smith, the managing director of Siemens Industrial Projects and Systems, said the decision to pull out of manufacturing switchboards was taken in the face of an increasingly competitive market, especially in exports, which made up the bulk of the business.

"This solution is the best option for the future of the operation and its employees,'' he said.

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