THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 29, 1996 TAG: 9610290310
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 52 lines
Volvo Penta of the Americas Inc. has eliminated 48 people from its North American marine engine headquarters in Chesapeake, the company confirmed Monday.
The work-force reduction includes six sales people who work in the field but report to the Chesapeake office and several Swedish workers who will be redeployed to their home country when their contracts expire, Volvo Penta President and CEO Clint Moore said.
The company cut 33 jobs last week in Chesapeake, Moore said. Between 100 and 125 workers will remain at Volvo Penta's headquarters and its boat-testing facility in Suffolk.
The people who lost their jobs were not let go because of poor work performance, Moore said.
``This was restructuring, pure and simple, as harsh as that sounds,'' Moore said. ``We said goodbye to some good people last week.''
The job losses at Volvo Penta should not be taken as a signal that AB Volvo is reducing its commitment to the marine business or to Chesapeake, Moore said. The company within the past few years has built a new testing facility in Suffolk and formed a joint venture with Outboard Marine Corp. to manufacture engines and sterndrives in Lexington, Ky.
``We are forward focused and I think we are getting a picture of where we're going to go and how we're going to get there,'' Moore said.
Volvo Penta of the Americas in Chesapeake is the North American headquarters of the Sweden's AB Volvo Penta, a supplier of commercial and recreational boat engines. AB Volvo, their parent company, is the Sweden-based manufacturer of cars, trucks, boat engines and aerospace equipment.
The restructuring, Moore said, is an attempt to focus the Chesapeake operation on servicing the engines it sells. To concentrate on service, its sales force was reduced along with its accounting department, he said.
Volvo Penta's annual sales top $100 million, but the company has a formidable competitor in Brunswick Corp. Brunswick's MerCruiser sterndrives dominate the market for inboard/outboard boat engines.
Volvo Penta has been trying to increase its share of the market. Moore in March replaced Lennart Hammarstrom as president and CEO of Volvo Penta of the Americas. Hammarstrom resigned and was reassigned to his home country of Sweden.
Moore said his appointment was the parent company's acknowledgment that it needed somebody who understood the intricacies of the U.S. boating market. Moore had spent 22 years in the recreational boating business. ILLUSTRATION: [Photo]
KEYWORDS: RESTRUCTURING JOB LOSS by CNB