American Power Conversion (APC) is to cut some 250 jobs — almost half of its Irish workforce — as part of a cost-cutting plan it reckons will cost the company between US$4m and US$5m to execute.
APC employs some 680 people in Ireland in Galway, Castlebar and Dublin. The company said it intends to retain select sales, information technology, research and development and business support functions in its existing Galway facility.
In what it terms a streamling plan, APC said it will begin discussions with its workforce with the objective of reducing approximately 200 to 250 positions within Ireland, primarily in the manufacturing, operations and customer support areas.
“In an effort to improve our competitiveness as well as become increasingly customer-centric, APC has been actively working to reduce operational costs and improve company productivity through the transition of production to lower-cost areas as well as the deployment of customer-facing activities closer to the customer,” explained Rodger B Dowdell Jr, APC president and chief executive officer.
“The redeployment and the reduction of certain positions in Ireland is the direct result of this strategy, and while this was a very difficult decision to make, it better positions APC both financially and competitively.
“We will continue to work to better align manufacturing capacity with demand and optimise resource location to maximise customer satisfaction globally,” Dowdell added.
The company said that the US$4m-US$5m it will spend on the cost-cutting plan will consist primarily of one-time employee severance costs. The costs of the plan will be recognised in the company’s third-quarter results.
APC added that it aims to complete the cost-cutting plan in the first quarter of 2007.
By John Kennedy
