Andrew Corp., a manufacturer of communications systems and products, will sell some of its manufacturing assets in Europe and will curtail most of its in-house filter production in Romania, Italy and
North America.
In an agreement signed with Elcoteq SE, Elcoteq will manufacture Andrew’s high-volume filter products in Europe and North America.
Elcoteq is also purchasing Andrew's filter manufacturing assets in Arad, Romania for approximately $20 million. The company will retain all of the approximately 250 employees in Arad.
Andrew is planning to purchase nearly $100 million in Elcoteq-produced products during the first year of the multi-year supply agreement to serve its growing global customer base.
In Italy, Andrew will cease high-volume filter production at Capriate and eliminate approximately 215 employee and contractor jobs at both its Capriate and Agrate locations. They will continue to produce low-volume filters in Capriate, while, in Agrate, they will continue some manufacturing functions.
In North America, the comany is discontinuing filter production in Amesbury, MA, and Nogales, Mexico, and will be centralizing future North American filter production with Elcoteq in Juarez, Mexico.
The Amesbury facility will be closed by the end of 2006, eliminating approximately 80 manufacturing-related jobs. The remaining 30 positions in R&D and new product introduction will be relocated to the Warren, NJ facility.
The closing of the Amesbury plant completes Andrew's transfer of filter manufacturing to lower-cost locations in Mexico and China.
“With the rapid growth in Andrew’s filter business over the past few years, we continue efforts to ensure that our filter supply chain remains as flexible, cost-efficient, and regionally-focused as possible in support of our customer's evolving network requirements around the world,” said Mickey Miller, group president, Base Station Subsystems Group, Andrew Corporation.
Andrew's cost to implement these strategic actions is estimated to be in the range of $15 million to $20 million.
