By Maisie Ramsay
Friday, January 30, 2009
Kyocera International, the North American regional holding company for the Kyocera Group, announced it will reorganize U.S.-based handset groups Kyocera Wireless Corp. and Kyocera Sanyo Telecom.
The telecom equipment maker plans to consolidate the two groups, eliminating about 360 jobs at the Chatsworth, Calif.-based Kyocera Sanyo Telecom and at San Diego-based Kyocera Wireless Corp. and its subsidiary in Bangalore, India, Kyocera Wireless India.
The company said it hopes the reduction in its workforce will strengthen its competitive position and plans to complete the consolidation by the end of its fiscal year on March 31.
“By reorganizing and more fully integrating the former assets of Sanyo with those of Kyocera, we will enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of the combined global handset business,” said President Rodney Lanthorne in a statement. “While the recent market contraction was a factor, [Kyocera Wireless Corp.’s] profit viability required restructuring. We believe the comprehensive global integration and alignment with the rest of the mobile handset group moves us in the right direction.”
Kyocera acquired Sanyo’s mobile handset segment last April and brought in about 2,000 of Sanyo’s full-time employees in Japan and Malaysia. The realignment will place global coordination of the company’s communication equipment segment at its product-line headquarters in Yokohoma, Japan. The company’s U.S. divisions will work on sales, marketing, service, business development and customer support.