IMGCAP(1)]
NCR Corp. plans to soon close a manufacturing a plant in Viroqua, Wis., eliminating approximately 80 jobs in the town of 4,400.
NCR will close the plant for the majority of workers March 8, and the 100,000 square-foot facility will be closed entirely March 31, Alan Ulman, a company spokesperson, tells ATM&Debit News.
"The closing is part of a plant consolidation," Ulman says.
Dayton, Ohio-based NCR opened the factory, which manufacturers printing labels for ATMs and cash registers, in 1968.
The company will transfer the plant's equipment to another factory in Morristown, Tenn.
"By operating one plant that make labels instead of two, we will reduce our costs," Ulman says.
Bill Nuti, NCR's chairman and CEO, told investors in December the company's goal is to become the ATM industry's low-cost manufacturer.
During his presentation, Nuti said NCR achieved $400 million in general and administrative cost savings during phase one, which ended in 2007.
The subsequent second phase focuses on moving operations to low-cost regions and restructuring the manufacturing process.
NCR in December raised its cost-savings target to between $200 million to $250 million from its previous projection of $150 million to $200 million for 2008 through 2010.
"This is particularly impressive given the over $400 million in cost savings achieved since 2003,"Gil Luria, an analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles, wrote in a recent analyst report.
NCR's goal of becoming the lowest-cost industry operator excludes its pension obligations, Luria says. "NCR is referring to what it calls nonpension operating income," Luria tells ATM&Debit News.
Employees at the Viroqua plant can apply for jobs at the Morristown plant, which is expanding its workforce, Ulman says.
The plant was nonunion, and NCR paid workers $14 to $15 per hour, Jeff Gohlke, Viroqua's city administrator, tells ATM&Debit News.
