FormFactor stops Singapore transition
FormFactor has announced it is ceasing its transition of manufacturing operations to Singapore. The company's decision will result in a reduction in force of approximately 70 employees at its Singapore facility. The decision does not impact the company's other Singapore activities, including its Design Engineering and Design Technology groups or its Finance Service Centre, although certain of the local internal company support functions will be resized in light of the manufacturing decision. The manufacturing activities that were scheduled to be transitioned to Singapore will remain in Livermore, and Livermore will continue as the largest manufacturing operation for the company. The Singapore manufacturing decision does not impact the current manufacturing activities in Japan. The company expects that the activities comprising the reduction in force will be substantially completed by the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010.
In the second quarter of fiscal 2010 the company announced a series of corporate initiatives that represented a renewed focus on streamlining and simplifying its operations as well as reducing its quarterly operating costs. Those corporate initiatives included consolidating certain manufacturing operations by moving the assembly and testing operation from Korea to Livermore. The company's decision announced today to cease the Singapore manufacturing transition is consistent with its plan to simplify business processes and get back to basics in order to return the company to profitability. In addition to costs the company will incur to cease Singapore manufacturing, the decision will impact the remaining useful life of certain assets, including leasehold improvements, in its Singapore facility.
