RAYTHEON LETTING 9,700 GO; HALF OF JOBS LOST TO BE IN CALIFORNIA.Byline: Richard Lorant Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Raytheon Co. said Friday that it will eliminate 9,700 jobs, or 8 percent of its work force, over the next two years in an effort to cut costs and reap the rewards of a takeover spree that nearly doubled its size. The country's third-largest defense contractor Noun 1. defense contractor - a contractor concerned with the development and manufacture of systems of defense armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; , with a work force of 120,000, said jobs would be lost through layoffs and attrition, with more than half the cuts in coming in California. Raytheon said the consolidation will allow its defense and commercial electronics business, Raytheon Systems, to cut annual costs by up to 15 percent, or by more than $2 billion. ``There's no one else in the industry that's making these bold moves,'' said Kenneth Dahlberg, president and chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. of Raytheon Systems. ``If we got it right, we're preparing for growth and not contraction.'' Savings are necessary to compete for contracts in a post-Cold War era The Post-Cold War era is a time period following the end of the Cold War. Its beginning is dated either in 1989, when the Revolutions of 1989 occurred in Eastern Europe and amicable relations developed between the United States and the Soviet Union, or it is dated in 1991 with the in which the Pentagon is spending 60 percent less on weapons systems than it was in 1990, the company said. The announcement of cuts came a month after Raytheon completed its $9.5 billion purchase of the Hughes defense units from General Motors and less than a year after it bought Texas Instruments' defense business. The acquisitions, along with earlier purchases of Texas-based defense electronics firm E-Systems and Chrysler Corp.'s defense businesses, just about doubled Raytheon's size. Combined revenues of Raytheon and Hughes topped $20.5 billion last year. A total of 8,700 of the job cuts will come at Raytheon Systems; an additional 2,700 engineers there will be reassigned to other projects. About 1,000 more jobs will be lost at Raytheon Engineers & Constructors, where business has been by a drop in Asian contracts. The company said it would close 20 of Raytheon Systems' more than 80 major manufacturing plants over the next two years and scale back six others. Raytheon planned to consolidate many operations - reducing its circuit board facilities from 19 to two, for example. Raytheon executives would not say how many of the jobs would be eliminated through layoffs and how many through attrition, but it was clear the number of layoffs would be significant. ``While we've had to make some really tough decisions, decisions that will impact the lives of many people, we believe we've taken the right actions,'' said William H. Swanson For the baseball player, see . William H. Swanson (born 1949) is the chairman and chief executive officer of Raytheon Company. Before becoming chairman in January 2004, he was CEO and president of the company. , chairman and chief executive of Raytheon Systems. California was hardest hit in terms of numbers, losing 5,200 jobs, many of them former Hughes employees. The company will retain 11,600 employees there after the cuts. On Wall Street, Raytheon's Class A shares fell 1.5 percent Friday, or by 75 cents to close at $49.06-1/4 each on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. , where its Class B stock fell 87-1/2 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $50. RAYTHEON CUTS California plants where Raytheon plans changes: El Segundo El Segundo (ĕl sēgŭn`dō), industrial city (1990 pop. 15,223), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1917. Its products include navigation and computer systems, aircraft parts, office machines, telephone apparatus, and : Workers in the El Segundo North complex will be consolidated into the El Segundo South facilities, which will become headquarters for the Sensors and Electronic Systems segment. Santa Barbara-Goleta area: The Raytheon Amber facility will be closed and work will be consolidated into the former Hughes Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. Research Center. The Raytheon E-Systems Los Carneros facility will be closed, with some work going to a plant on nearby Hollister Avenue and the rest moving out of the area. San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. : The Naval and Maritime Systems and Naval and Maritime Services depot will be closed. Work there will be moved to Chula Vista Chula Vista (ch  `lə), city (1990 pop. 135,163), San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1911. and Indianapolis. Irvine: Operations will be closed, with work divided between Chula Vista and Indianapolis. Long Beach: Operations will be closed and jobs moved to Chula Vista and Indianapolis. Sycamore Canyon Sycamore Canyon is the second largest canyon in the Arizona redrock country, after Oak Creek Canyon. The 21 mile (33.6 km) long scenic canyon reaches a maximum width of about 7 miles (11.2 km) and is located in North Central Arizona below the Mogollon Rim northwest of Sedona. : Operations will be moved to facilities in East Camden, Ark., and Tucson, Ariz. Torrance: The Torrance Advanced Technology Group will be moved to El Segundo South and the gallium arsenide operations will be transferred out of state. Westchester: Operations shut down and workers moved to El Segundo. -- Associated Press CAPTION(S): Box BOX: RAYTHEON CUTS (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion