Irvine, CA, August 25, 2004--Newport Corporation has announced a series of actions that will take place over the next nine months that are expected to result in $10 million to $12 million in annual savings. The changes follow the company's acquisition of Spectra-Physics, which was finalized in July.
Newport said it would close its acquired manufacturing facility in Oroville, CA and its existing Chandler, AZ facility, and relocate the activities from those plants to other facilities in California and Arizona. The company has also identified duplicate product lines, operations and administrative activities in the United States and Europe that will be consolidated into other company locations. As a result of these actions, Newport will eliminate redundant positions and activities in support areas such as operations, information technology, accounting, marketing communications and human resources.
While these actions will result in the relocation of some current employees and the hiring of additional employees, Newport said its overall plan would result in a net reduction of 75 to 100 jobs, or 4% to 5% of its workforce.
"We noted previously that both Newport and Spectra-Physics already operated with relatively lean and efficient workforces and have relatively minimal product and operational overlap," said Robert Deuster, chairman and CEO of Newport. "Therefore, the total reduction in headcount required to integrate the two businesses is lower than what might be expected from an integration of two companies of this size. Nevertheless, we have identified a number of restructuring actions that will allow us to operate the combined company even more efficiently."