More layoffs in Tyco safety division

tructuring of Tyco’s Fire & Security unit WESTMINSTER, Mass. - Manufacturing and administrative personnel at a Tyco Fire & Security location here were cut by about 75 jobs in January, reductions that stem from a corporate edict issued last fall to slash more than 5,000 employees. Announced earlier in the month, the job cuts here only affect less than about eight percent of the 986 employees working at the Tyco Safety Products plant here, a manufacturing arm of Tyco Fire & Security, according to Chris Woodcock, director, marketing communications for SimplexGrinnell. That company, which is also housed in the Westminster facility, did not lose any of its 400 workers in this round of cuts, Woodcock said. Instead, most of the cuts were felt in the administrative, manufacturing and distribution areas of Tyco Safety Products, he said. As part of a massive cost-cutting effort, Tyco corporate officials said in November that the company would slash 7,200 jobs company-wide and close 219 facilities worldwide. Of those, 184 facilities - 15 of them manufacturing plants - would be in the Fire & Security division. Despite those forecasts, company officials said that the Westminster facility, which serves as a manufacturing, research and distribution center, is an integral part of the Fire & Security fold. “While Tyco will not speculate about the future of any of its specific facilities, it is fair to say that the Westminster facility…is an important Fire & Security asset,” Woodcock said in a statement. Officials said late last year that as part of Tyco’s restructuring, some locations would be consolidated, such as in Charlotte, N.C., where three SimplexGrinnell locations were combined into one new location. Fire industry analyst Lee DeVito of FirePro said that the layoffs were likely the result of consolidating the company’s many acquisitions. Through a larger, global cost-cutting initiative that will look at Tyco’s locations and operations around the world, company officials at the conglomerate hope to save $3 billion over the next three years through finding efficiencies in the combination of operations, particularly through purchasing costs, working capital and other efficiency programs. According to a report in London’s Financial Times, David FitzPatrick, Tyco’s chief financial officer, said that the company has formed 58 teams that will look for synergies in such areas as electronic security services, medical products and industrial valves and controls.