KORTRIJK, Belgium — Barco’s plan to reduce its costs by 30 million euros, announced in July, was followed by staff reductions in September, and the company recently announced a second round of staff cuts which will trim the company’s global ranks by an additional 200 people. The company added that 130 of those people will be leaving the company this month. The plan announced in July outlined four ways to reduce costs:
1. Maximize internal synergies. Barco said it has begun this process by creating one common operations organization and a unified global corporate marketing team.
2. Simplify the company structure. The company said its presentation business unit would be integrated into the Media & Entertainment division sales channels and the simulation and avionics activities would be combined in the Avionics & Simulation division.
3. Cost containment. Barco is targeting opportunities for higher efficiency in its sales & marketing, customer services and R&D departments, and said it would also strive to contain marketing, travel and supporting services expenses.
4. Sale of non-strategic activities. The Maritime Safety and Surveillance activity, based in Stuttgart, Germany, was sold to Thales in September. An agreement to divest the medical advanced visualization business, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, was signed with Toshiba Medical Systems in late November.
For more information, please visit www.barco.com.
