NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – PerkinElmer will be laying off workers at a Connecticut facility as it transfers some operations to facilities in the UK and Singapore.
The Hartford Courant reported that the Waltham, Mass.-based firm would cut about 75 jobs from its Shelton, Conn., facility. A company spokeswoman could not confirm the figure but issued a statement from Geraint Philips, vice president of manufacturing operations and technical support at PerkinElmer, saying the company is transferring manufacturing of four analytical instrument product lines to two existing PerkinElmer facilities in Singapore and Llantrisant, UK.
"This manufacturing transfer will enable PerkinElmer to improve utilization across our global manufacturing footprint, simplifying both cost structure and distribution processes and maintaining high product quality and delivery performance," Philips continued. "The transfer also moves the manufacturing of these key product lines closer to the fastest growing markets in the world, which allows PerkinElmer the ability to serve them more effectively.”
According to the Courant, the layoffs will begin in the second half of this year and continue into early 2013.
Last year PerkinElmer terminated 72 employees as part of a restructuring effort to move resources to higher-growth geographies and end markets, it disclosed in its second-quarter 2011 earnings document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company had about 6,200 employees worldwide at the beginning of 2011, prior to several acquisitions, including the purchase of Caliper Life Sciences for around $600 million.