Panasonic Electric to shut three plants, cut 800 jobs
Panasonic Electric Works (6991.T), the building materials unit of
consumer electronics maker Panasonic Corp (6752.T), said it will close
three additional plants in Japan and cut 800 workers as a slowing
economy hits demand.
The company, which sells lighting equipment, built-in kitchen systems
and other building products, will carry out the plant closures and job
cuts by the year ending March 2011, a Panasonic Electric spokesman said
on Sunday.
The latest streamlining measures come on top of two factory shutdowns
and elimination of 200 jobs so far in the current business year to March
2009, the spokesman said.
Of total job cuts of 1,000, 550 of them will be full-time positions.
Panasonic Electric Works, owned 51 percent by Panasonic Corp, the
world’s No.1 plasma TV maker, has not decided which three of the
remaining 13 domestic factories will be closed, he said.
Housing starts in Japan, battered by a regulatory change last year,
were flat in November compared with a year earlier, far below a median
forecast for an 8 percent rise.
Panasonic Electric Works in October cut its net profit forecast for
the year to March 2009 by 12 percent to 38 billion yen ($419 million),
which would be down 16 percent on the year. ($1=90.73 Yen)
TOKYO, Dec 28, Reuters
|