Alcatel Optronics cuts 25% of staff in rationalisation

After a 2001 operating loss of €361m, by end-2002 Alcatel Optronics will cut staffing by 25% (from 1,805 at end-March to about 1,350). The downsizing will affect all of its manufacturing sites:

• Optical Fiber Amplifier (OFA)/ Optical Interface Subsystem (OIF) assembly based in Illkirch, France will be transferred back to the primary facility for active components in Nozay by end-2002. In Nozay, as well as in Lannion, Alcatel Optronics will use part-time employment, early retirement and prolonged leaves to reduce headcount. In Lannion it is exploring the reconversion of the production unit with one or more partners. The Optronics site employs 320 out of a total of 2,000 in Lannion.
• Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) manufacturing in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada will be closed and transferred to Alcatel Optronics UK's fellow passive terrestrial planar lightwave circuit (PLC) manufacturing plant in Livingston, Scotland, UK. R&D activities will be retained along with a commercial presence in Kanata, Ontario.
• Staffing will be cut at the board assembly site in Plano, TX, USA.
• The non-core, non-telecoms MEMS and Planar design software activities in the Netherlands will be divested through a management buy-out by end-June.