ATS Automation Tooling lays off 180 workers (January 15, 2007)

Industrial automation supplier ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. (ATS) is laying off 180 employees from its Automation Systems Group (ASG) workforce in North America.
Approximately 100 of these eliminated positions will be from the company’s Cambridge, Ont., facility.
In total, the reduction amounts to seven per cent of the ASG division’s global workforce.
The reduction is part of an aggressive ongoing program to strengthen performance and improve global market positioning, the company, which is headquartered in Cambridge, said.
“The actions we’ve taken today are necessary to help us further improve overall performance as we address the significant negative impact of foreign exchange, continuing restructuring in North American automotive markets and migration of manufacturing to offshore markets,” according to Ron Jutras, ATS’ president and CEO. “As a global company, we are committed to enhancing our ability to serve the needs of our customers in North America and abroad and to generating improved investment returns for ATS shareholders.”
As a result of the downsizing, ATS will pay a total in severance and other related costs of approximately $5 million, which will be expensed during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, the company said.
The downsizing is expected to decrease ATS’ annualized payroll costs by an estimated $11 million before taxes.
“The decision to further streamline our operations and reduce the costs of underutilized capacity was arrived at carefully, giving full consideration to our strategic roadmap, our long-term prospects and the need to reallocate resources to high opportunity markets,” Jim Sheldon, president of ASG North America, said.
ATS employs approximately 3,500 employees in 26 facilities in Canada, the U.S., Europe, southeast Asia and China.