Tyco closing Mesquite plant, cutting jobs
(Dallas Times Herald 10/25/01)
Tyco Electronics' Power Systems division is
closing its Mesquite manufacturing plant--once
the city's largest employer--and eliminating
700 jobs.
The cuts involve 600 manufacturing and 100
administrative positions, Tyco spokeswoman
Maryanne Kane said.
Power Systems will keep its headquarters in
Mesquite and continue to employ about 700
managers and administrative workers there.
A year ago the division had about 2,000
employees in Mesquite.
The job cuts began Oct. 11 and are expected
to continue for six months, company officials
said.
About 400 employees, including all 100 admini-
strative workers, already have been let go,
Ms. Kane said. Tyco is negotiating severance
packages for all manufacturing workers with the
Communications Workers of America Local 6260,
she said.
"It's so much more than just jobs," Chamber of
Commerce president Terry McCullar said about
the closing.
When it was owned by AT&T the Mesquite plant
was the first American company to win Japan's
Deming Prize for manufacturing quality, Mr.
McCullar said.
"We're quite proud of those folks and their
accomplishments," he said.
Mr McCullar said he is optimistic that Power
Systems workers will be able to find work with
other Mesquite companies.
Tyco has not said what it plans to do with the
plant, located at 3000 Skyline Drive, near Town
East Boulevard.
"Our hope is that someone will pick it up," Mr.
McCullar said.
Power Systems, which makes equipment that powers
telephone networks and computers, is a division
of Tyco Electronics, based Harrisburg, Pa.
Tyco, itself a unit of Bermuda-based Tyco Inter-
national Ltd., bough Power Systems from Lucent
Technologies Inc. in December for $2.5 billion.
Tyco said the Mesquite plant wasn't a good fit
with its other facilities.
"It just doesn't work; it's just way too big,"
Ms. Kane said. "It's 1 million square feet. It's
also stand-alone."
The Power Systems job cuts are the second this year.
About 600 management workers were cut after Tyco
bought Power Systems because the jobs duplicated
existing company positions, Ms Kane said.
Tyco International stock went up 78 cents Wednesday
in trading on the New York Stock Exchange, closing
at $49.80