THE North-East electronics industry has suffered a major blow with news that Sanyo could be set to close its two factories in the Tees Valley, with the loss of more than 300 jobs.

The majority of those jobs will go on Tony Blair's doorstep at Newton Aycliffe in his constituency of Sedgefield..

Sanyo is blaming a fall in world demand for microwave ovens, manufactured at the sites, for their closure.

Its other sites in the UK, at Lowestoft, Loughborough and Watford, employ about another 700 people, but because they make other products, such as medical diagnostic devices, they will not be affected by the company's cost-cutting plans.

It seems once again that it is the North-East that is bearing the brunt of another country's problems in the global economy.

Sanyo has been in the region for the past 13 years, opening the two plants in 1988, at a time when inward investment was seen as the saviour of the region's economy, following the demise of the coal and shipbuilding industries.

Back then the region blamed its problems on "putting its eggs in one basket" and pledged never to do it again.

A diverse economy was what was needed to make the region great again.

Inward investors, mainly in the field of electronics, were attracted to the region by groups like the Northern Development Company, the forerunner of regional development agency One NorthEast.

Samsung, Sanyo, Fujitsu, Phillips, Siemens and LG Electronics, the stars of the Japanese, Korean, Dutch and German economies, were queuing up to set up sites in the North-East.

From microchips for mobile phones to microwave ovens and television sets, these were the products that would be produced by the hard grafting workers of the region, who learnt new skills to replace the traditional ones they used in the pits and shipyards.

Siemens and Fujitsu have long since packed up and left the region, while LG Electronics and Philips have merged their units at Washington, Tyne and Wear, into one, in an effort to continue to make a go of it in the region.

Sanyo is now looking at alternative uses for its Tees Valley factories, a ploy already used by Fujitsu, which sold its Newton Aycliffe plant to Filtronic, another electronics company that is currently struggling to find customers for its microchip-based products. Samsung looks to be the only long-term survivor in the industry, and even it has cut back its expansion plans.

The company has already closed its operation at Billingham, transferring its entire manufacturing workforce to Wynyard Park.

It currently employs about 800 staff at the park, a number that rises to 1,000 at peak times of production.

However, that is far short of the near 2,000 plus jobs the company boasted of creating when it first moved into the region.

Despite the current downturn in the region's electronics industry, Mark Henderson, director of operations at development agency One NorthEast, believes it will be back, as a stronger sector in the future.

He said: "This downturn simply reflects what is happening on a global basis, but it isn't the end of the world for the North-East electronics sector.

"The region has some real strengths, such as its research and development projects, which will help to create the next generation of electronic devices."

He added: "I remain reasonably optimistic about the future growth of the industry, despite this bad news about Sanyo. This announcement is obviously going to be of great concern to the workers at the Newton Aycliffe and Thornaby plants, and their families.

"However, Sanyo is well aware of the need to provide help and support to those affected by this bad news, and of course One NorthEast will also be on hand to provide such support, if required."