Newport to Cut Costs, Jobs

IRVINE, Calif., August 23 -- Newport Corp. on Tuesday unveiled cost-cutting plans that include reorganizing divisions and reducing staff as it faces the downturn in the fiber optics communications market.

The company said 275 jobs will be eliminated by the end of this year, with 60 to 70 additional cuts also expected. Newport will close its Plymouth, Minn., facility, which manufactures high-precision motion stages for the semiconductor equipment, computer peripheral, fiber optic communications and life and health sciences markets, by Dec. 31.

Most of the job reductions will result from combining Newport's Fiber Optics and Photonics Div. (FPD) automation businesses into the Advanced Packaging and Automation Systems Div. and reducing the company's investment in the fiber optic communications market. The company also plans significant downsizing at the former FPD headquarters in Southern California and its facility in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and it will consolidate the former Design Technology facility in Billerica, Mass., into the MRSI facility there. Newport's Garden Grove, Calif., facility was recently consolidated into the Irvine, Calif. location.

Newport said it expects its actions to result in annualized savings of between $12.0 million and $14.0 million.

For more information, visit: http://www.newport.com