STAFF at Kimberly Clark will be breathing a huge sigh of relief at the about turn in fortunes at the Barrow site.

One minute jobs were on the line, the next millions of pounds is being invested in new kit and more staff are needed.

Make no mistake, this will be a huge relief and is a wonderful Christmas present for the town.

A total of £85 million being spent on one site is not to be sniffed at and is nothing short of a massive vote of confidence in the Barrow site.

One of only two factories in the country to benefit from such sizeable investment, managers must have made convincing arguments at the highest level that Barrow is where the company should be.

You cannot underestimate the importance of people in power going into bat for this town.

But in the topsy-turvy, profit-hungry world of big business, ‘long-term future’ has all manner of definitions.

It is said that this new investment will help increase efficiency but we must always guard against efficiency being used as a justification to keep trimming away periodically at the workforce.

That’s the problem with new technology - the more we rely on machines, the less we need people.

After all, companies can be ruthless in continuing to whittle away at the workforce in the name of efficiency.