Harris Cost Reductions Include Job Cuts

Harris said it is cutting 100 jobs in its Broadcast Communications Division in the United States and other countries, part of corporate cost reductions. It has not yet publicly identified the nature of the jobs.
Harris confirmed the cuts are to happen by mid-June. Currently, Harris employs 1,150 people in its broadcast division.
“The organization has been recently realigned into five customer-facing business units – Television Broadcast Systems, Radio Broadcast Systems, Broadcast Systems Europe, Broadcast Automation Solutions and Networking & Government Systems,” it said in a statement.
The new structure, the company said, “will provide better focus on core markets and improve operational efficiency and competitiveness.”
The changes will allow Harris to save about $4 million in the broadcast division and $8 million in its microwave division spread out over a one-year period.
The company also is cutting and shifting jobs in its Microwave Communications division to Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
Harris Chairman, President and CEO Howard Lance said the broadcast division’s profits are small and the microwave division is losing money. “We need to have those two segments contributing in a material way to our earnings.” He said Harris has made progress with the microwave division but it’s still losing money. The broadcast division is making money, he said, but the profit is “small.”
Harris wants those two divisions to earn more “so the market attaches some value to those businesses and we’d see that reflected in a higher share price,” said Lance.