ITT SAYS JOBS AT RISK

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 7, 1993                   TAG: 9301070155
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                LENGTH: Medium
ITT SAYS JOBS AT RISK
ITT Electro-Optical Products Division will be forced to lay off 150 more workers by 1994 if its Roanoke Country night-vision goggles plant fails to secure new contracts, Neil Gallagher, its new president and general manager, said Wednesday.
The division of ITT Corp. of New York is a defense-contract company now. But it is trying to market its product to commercial users, Gallagher said. If those efforts are unsuccessful and the military continues to cut its budget, the company projects that its work force will be trimmed to 550 employees next year.
Gallagher made his comments Wednesday at a Gallagher said ITT discovered two things shortly after deciding to pursue commercial work: "One, we discovered we didn't know how to do it. Two, guys were already there doing it." public hearing for the Governor's Commission on Defense Conversion and Economic Adjustment held at New River Community College.
In November, ITT was awarded a major defense contract expected to exceed $215 million over five years, but Gallagher said the company's future depends heavily on the commercial market.
The company's goal is to have 50 percent of its work in the commercial market by 1997, he said.
Attracting commercial work, however, is easier to talk about than to do.
"To get into a freewheeling market is a very big change for a defense contracting company," he said. "What works well for the military doesn't necessarily work well for commercial contracts."
Gallagher said ITT discovered two things shortly after deciding to pursue commercial work.
"One, we discovered we didn't know how to do it," he said. "Two, guys were already there doing it."
The company has hired a marketing consultant, and Gallagher said company officials will travel to a Florida boat show in March and try to land its first commercial contract.
Peace dividend cutbacks have limited many defense contractors. They triggered the layoff of 89 ITT employees at the Hollins plant in June and more than 400 others during the past 2 1/2 years.
The last thing Gallagher wants to do is let more workers go.
"It's broken our hearts to let those people go," he said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB