Delphi Will Cut 600 Salaried Positions

Troubled auto parts supplier Delphi Corp. said Monday, August 18, that it will lay off 600 of the 3,200 salaried workers in its electronics and safety division by the end of this year.

Delphi, which has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since October 2005, plans to cut its electronics and safety division costs by 25 percent.

The division accounted for $5.03 billion, or about 22 percent, of Delphi’s total global sales in 2007.

In a statement, Jeff Owens, the division’s president, said Delphi is “aligning its resources with the dramatic shifts that have occurred in the North American vehicle market.”

“Consumer trends and market conditions have caused fundamental shifts in consumer preferences, impacting both the volume and mix of vehicles produced by our North American customers.”

The affected salaried workers will be notified by August 29, said Delphi spokesman Milton Beach.

Most of the cuts will occur at Delphi’s operations in Kokomo, Indiana, where 2,500 of the 3,200 white-collar employees in the division work. Beach said the company will not disclose a target number of layoffs for each location.

The rest of the workers in the electronics and safety division are in Vandalia, Ohio; Milwaukee; and Michigan.

The layoffs affect about 6 percent of Delphi’s 10,200 salaried workers.

Delphi this month reported a $551 million second-quarter loss on a 13.3 percent decline in revenue. Delphi, a former General Motors subsidiary, relies on GM for most of its business.

Delphi, of suburban Detroit, supplies steering, chassis, electrical and other components and in-vehicle entertainment systems.

Filed by Craig Trudell of Automotive News, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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