Unite regional officer Fiona Farmer said, “We are devastated these jobs are being lost and manufacturing at the site is to cease.

“We will be engaging with the company on 90 days’ consultation as from Monday. We will be looking at every avenue and exploring all the options.

“However, the decision has been made to close the manufacturing, so any mitigation of job losses is not likely to be on a large scale.

“This is a devastating blow for the workforce in Dundee and it is another nail in the coffin for manufacturing in Scotland.”

Although the union has long been concerned about the shedding of jobs, the stopping of manufacturing completely has come as a “major blow”.

The official continued, “The concern is these skills will go, and when the credit crunch is finally over there will be no opportunity to resurrect this factory.”

Ms Farmer noted more than 400 jobs are being retained within NCR’s Dundee operation, the bulk of them in research and development.

Meanwhile, Scottish Enterprise said it was “disappointed” to learn of the job losses and claimed the posts were being transferred overseas.

A spokesperson said, “Clearly these are extremely challenging economic times and the financial services industry, which is a key market for NCR Dundee, is undergoing fundamental changes.

“During these times companies have to continuously review their cost base to ensure they are as competitive as possible. Sadly, in this case, this has resulted in jobs being lost from Dundee and transferred to lower cost regions.

“This will be a difficult and unsettling period for those affected and colleagues in Skills Development Scotland will be in contact with the management team in Dundee to determine what support they can offer.

“Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International will continue to work with NCR’s management teams, in Dundee and the USA, to build on the excellent research and development work which continues to take place in Dundee.”

Chamber of commerce chief executive Alan Mitchell said there had been concern about the long-term future of NCR’s manufacturing division for some time.

Jobs, he said, had been steadily declining in number and the latest blow was an unfortunate continuation of that trend.

He said, “This is a very, very disappointing and people can feel nothing but great sadness and sympathy for the folk who will lose their jobs as a consequence.

“But NCR as a company will still have a very, very strong link with Dundee through the research and development side of the business and that will clearly be important for the long term future and prosperity of both the city and the region.”

Mr Mitchell said he was confident the various schemes in place to help people who are made redundant would now kick in and provide the maximum help to them and their families.

He added, “There are well established systems and processes now in place not just here but across the country whenever there are major lay-offs.

“The UK and Scottish governments have consistently offered their support to businesses in the current slowdown and obviously they will move very, very quickly through their local agencies.

“We are hoping the process will be smooth and people will find jobs again quickly.

“There are a lot of manufacturing and assembly skills at NCR and there are local companies looking for people.”

Independent Labour councillor Ian Borthwick, in whose Strathmartine ward the NCR factory is situated, today described the job cuts as “tragic”.

He called on politicians of all parties to cast aside their differences and work to ensure the city wasn’t overwhelmed by the latest in a long series of crushing jobs blows.

Councillor Borthwick said it was now vital for the city to put all other considerations aside and place the needs of employees and their families at the forefront of their thoughts.

He said, “It’s tragic that once again the city is hit by further redundancies by a company that was once a leader in its field in the city for many, many years.”