Honeywell leader reflects on layoffs, merger, growthSKANEATELES Skaneateles may refer to, in the United States:
Honeywell entered the Syracuse market late last year when it acquired Hand Held Products; Inc. The transition to Honeywell has been going well and is providing plenty of opportunity for growth, says Kevin Jost, vice president of security strategy at Honeywell and former CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Hand Held Products. "I think it's been kind of an awesome transition from a business perspective," he says. Just four months after Honeywell bought Hand Held, the company announced plans to acquire Metrologic Instruments Metrologic Instruments is an automated identification and data capture (AIDC) company headquartered in Blackwood, New Jersey. Metrologic Instruments designs, manufactures and markets bar code decoding hardware, adaptive optical solutions and high-speed image processing , Inc. of New Jersey, a manufacturer of laser and mobile imaging and remote-scanning devices, for about $720 million. Hand Held brought its manufacturing capabilities in bar-code scanners, data- and image-collection devices, and mobile computers to Honeywell. Together, Jost says the two companies will be a force in their sectors. "There's opportunity here," he says. "It's exciting and compelling." Even before the Metrologic acquisition, being a part of Honeywell has helped the former Hand Held chase business that would have been difficult if not impossible before, Jost says. "Access to customers is huge," he says. "I know for sure of one customer we will win business from that we wouldn't have before." The advantages will show up further over time as Honeywell's local operations continue to become more competitive. The news hasn't all been good though. Honeywell announced earlier this month that it would cut nearly 300 jobs from its Skaneateles Falls plant and move remaining manufacturing operations Manufacturing operations concern the operation of a facility, as opposed to maintenance, supply and distribution, health, and safety, emergency response, human resources, security, information technology and other infrastructural support organizations. to China. The decision to eliminate the jobs was a difficult one, Jost says. Affected employees will receive severance packages A severance package is pay and benefits an employee receives when they leave employment at a company. In addition to the employee's remaining regular pay, it may include some of the following:
Jost says over the next year or so, 290 local employees will be laid off from Honeywell's Skaneateles Falls site, Hand Held's former headquarters. At the time of the acquisition by Honeywell, Hand Held employed close to 1,000 people companywide and more than 600 at its local headquarters. The job cuts, Jost noted, had nothing to do with the acquisition and likely would have been made regardless of whether Hand Held had been sold. Jost says global economic forces were. the main reason for reducing the local payroll. It simply became too expensive to manufacture domestically. "It's really come to a point where we would not remain competitive by staying here," Jost says. About 40 percent of the local Honeywell business unit's products were already made in China. "The manufacturing power base for electronics is in Asia," he said. "All our competitors are there. They've been there. That's the way the macro environment is, even though it's not necessarily one that you personally might like." There was no one, single event that prompted the decision to move manufacturing to China, Jost adds. The company has been reviewing its entire supply chain on a global basis and realized keeping manufacturing in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. was holding things back. Honeywell, based in Morristown, N.J., is a sprawling, global manufacturer with customers in sectors like aerospace, specialty materials, and the automotive industry The automotive industry is the industry involved in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of motor vehicles. In 2006, more than 69 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide. . The company generated $34.6 billion in sales during 2007 and a profit of $2.4 billion. © 2008 Central New York Central New York is a term used to broadly describe the central region of New York State, roughly including the following counties and cities: Cayuga County – Auburn Cortland County – Cortland Madison County – Oneida Business Journal Provided by ProQuest LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control . All Rights Reserved. 
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