CommScope Initiates Additional Manufacturing Consolidation

Tag : cable manufacturing equipment

-- Czech Republic: Base station antenna production in Brno would bediscontinued and moved to existing Andrew antenna plants oroutsourced. In addition, the connector, cable, and accessoryassembly operations in Brno are under consideration for relocationto other Andrew locations or outsourcing. Other operations in Brnowould not be affected.

-- Australia: Enterprise cabling operations in Brisbane will bediscontinued by early 2009, with production moved to otherCommScope facilities.

-- Scotland: Machine shop operations in Lochgelly would beconsolidated into other Andrew facilities or outsourced. Cablere-roll processes and some support functions also are beingreviewed. Other operations in Lochgelly would not be affected.

The proposed changes are expected to result in a net reduction ofat least 85 employees across the company. In total, more than 700existing jobs could be affected by these planned actions, with themajority of these positions potentially relocated to other existingcompany locations.

"We regret that many of our people may be impacted. However,we can better serve and secure the long-term interests of ourglobal employee population, as well as our customers andshareholders, by reducing costs whenever possible and improvingutilization of our extensive capabilities in response to regionalmarket demand," said Brian Garrett, CommScope president andchief operating officer. "Combined with our previouslyannounced actions that affected manufacturing locations in Belgium,Brazil and Italy, these proposed moves are expected to enableCommScope to have a much more highly efficient and properlyutilized manufacturing footprint around the world. We remaincommitted to global competitiveness and excellence in everything wedo, especially serving customers."