(Yicai Global) Oct. 30 -- US tool and electric device maker Stanley Black & Decker has closed its plant in South China’s Shenzhen due to a changing market terrain. Other firms in the city are beckoning the plant’s over 1,000 workers to jump aboard them, and half of staff found new jobs the day the plant closed, Yicai Global discovered via an on-site visit.

Connecticut-based Stanley Black & Decker’s wholly-owned China unit, Stanley Black & Decker Precision Manufacturing Shenzhen, resolved to shut down on Oct. 26 because of a shifting market environment and intensifying competition, the firm announced on Oct. 26. Formed in 2012, it produces electric drills, small household appliances and other products.

Chen Xia worked at the firm’s vacuum cleaner production line for over four years and is satisfied with the more than CNY30,000 (USD4,483.9) in compensation she received. Chen has been fielding over 10 recruiting calls a day from headhunters since she left.

The firm’s other employees also find favor in many companies’ eyes. Most of its staffers joined other enterprises as soon as they left on Oct. 26. Flex Electronic Equipment recruited over 200, and household appliance manufacturer Airmate Electrical Shenzhen hired more than 100, a security guard in the industrial park housing Stanley Black & Decker Precision Manufacturing’s plant told Yicai Global.

Yicai Global also saw some ex-employees hauling away their luggage at the park's gate on the morning of Oct. 27. Recruiters lurking outside accosted every employee emerging so laden.

The firm had a 1,194-strong workforce last year and reported CNY1 billion (USD149.5 million) in assets, CNY2 billion in sales, CNY149 million (USD22.3 million) in net profit, and CNY559 million in debts, public data show.

Editor: Ben Armour