Management at the plant in Barrow, which employs 260 people, blames increased competition from branded products, lost contracts and a rise in the price of raw materials.

Malcolm Allan, HR director said: “ We forewarned our employees and the trade union that we will open formal consultations about potential cost-saving measures in light of the significant reduced volumes through the Barrow plant.

“The cost-saving measures may include redundancies and shift changes but this will be subject to the outcome of consultations and we cannot be certain until we have discussed the situation in more detail with our employees and the trade union.”

McBride, with a £500 million turnover, has 15 plants throughout Europe. It provides a wide range of laundry powders and other cleaning products for the retail and trade markets.