An Emerson Electric Co. division is cutting about 140 jobs at an Irvine plant that makes cooling units, surge protectors and other devices used to protect electronic systems.
The bulk of the work that was done by the Irvine unit,Liebert Corp.,is set to move to Ohio. Liebert’s devices protect electronic systems from heat, electrical surges and power outages.
The company plans to lay off workers at 9650 Jeronimo Road during the next several months, according to filings with the state Employment Development Department.
Liebert said 40 to 50 workers “are expected to remain employed in the local area in a location yet to be determined,” according to a letter written by an Emerson executive to the state department in the fall.
The company plans to fold about 100 of the Irvine jobs into its main hub in Delaware, Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Development. It’s not clear if any of the workers in Irvine will move to Ohio along with the work.
A spokesman for Liebert declined to comment on the job cuts.
Talk of an Irvine closure has been around since 2004, when Paul Alexander, Liebert’s manager of North American manufacturing operations, said the company would close the Irvine plant once an expansion site in Delaware was chosen, according to an article in Business First of Columbus.
Ohio and the city of Delaware offered Liebert more than $1 million in incentives to relocate, though the amount dropped after tax law changes in 2005. The incentives were offered two years ago when the company was mulling a move, according to Delaware city officials and the Ohio Department of Development.
“The company is considering relocating its California-based finance, research and development, engineering, product management and marketing functions to Delaware, Ohio, or Mexico,” the Ohio Department of Development said in a 2004 release.
The company had opted for the city of Delaware, in the heart of America’s manufacturing region, by the end of 2004.
“Increased operational costs at its Irvine, California, facility have forced the company to consider consolidating a portion of that location’s functions to an existing Liebert facility,” according to the Ohio Department of Development release.
The Irvine layoffs will come in four rounds that began late last year.
They are set to wrap up by the end of September.
The cuts include assemblers, technicians and more than three dozen salaried jobs. Engineering jobs also are among the cuts.
Upgrading in Ohio
The company is upgrading its site in Delaware, a city of about 30,000 people near Columbus, and will use it for industrial testing.
Those improvements should be complete in the next few months, said Jerry Warner, chief building official for the city of Delaware.
Delaware is one of the fastest-growing cities in Ohio, said Gus Comstock, the city’s economic development director.
He jumped at the chance to lure jobs from California.
“You got to be aggressive when you can be,” Comstock said.
