Jim: Here's the article. Sorry about the link.
19980715
Adaptec lays off 350 staff at S'pore plant
By Jennifer Lien
US-BASED electronics manufacturer Adaptec Inc has retrenched 350 employees at its Singapore plant, its only manufacturing facility worldwide.
The layoffs, which took place last weekend, account for almost 30 per cent of Adaptec's 1,200 staff in Singapore, and about 10 per cent of its worldwide
workforce.
No other layoffs are being planned for now, K Y Lim, vice-president and managing director of the Singapore plant, told BT in a phone interview yesterday. The
move comes after Adaptec cut 250 mostly US-based staff in April due to falling sales. At that time, Adaptec had said its Singapore operations would not be
affected.
Human resources director Francis Yan told BT that most of those laid off were production staff. Others included technicians and manufacturing support staff. Staff in
research and development were not affected.
In a statement yesterday, Adaptec chairman Grant Saviers attributed the cuts to "significant" changes in the personal computer industry and said they were necessary
to help the company align expenses with revenue.
The PC industry is suffering under the weight of excess inventories, flat demand, and a shift to low-margin, sub-US$1,000 (S$1,700) PCs. Adaptec makes chips
and adapter cards that connect personal computers to printers, disk drives and other accessories.
Mr Yan said affected staff who had served three years or more would be paid one month's compensation for every year worked. Two weeks' compensation per
year will be paid to staff with less than three years' service.
Adaptec, which set up shop here in 1987, operates out of several floors in a Bukit Merah flatted factory. It is building a new factory in Chai Chee, which will begin
operations in December.
In November last year, Adaptec was making 500,000 printed circuit board assemblies and assembling three million chips a month. Officials yesterday declined to
say how much production had fallen since then.
Mr Yan denied that the Asian crisis would cause Adaptec to reconsider its expansion plans in Singapore, saying: "Our new facility in Chai Chee reflects Adaptec's
long-term commitment to Singapore, and the current workforce reduction is really a short-term response to the current business situation."
In the last month alone, several electronics heavyweights, such as Texas Instruments, Compaq Computer and Motorola, have retrenched large numbers of staff here.
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