Agilent Streamlines Unit, Cuts 650 Jobs

PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 15 -- Due to poor financial performance Agilent Technologies Inc. will cut 450 jobs at its health care unit, and 200 contract employees will also be let go. The company will also speed up a previously announced program aimed at improving efficiency by transferring final assembly manufacturing operations from Massachusetts to Agilent's production facility in Singapore. The company will also transfer operations to Singapore from China and Germany.
The business's current financial performance is clearly unacceptable, and we don't intend to wait for market conditions to improve before implementing our plans, said Ned Barnholt, Agilent's CEO. We're firmly committed to strengthening this business and are confident that today's actions will help get HSG (Healthcare Solutions Group) back on track.
Agilent employs about 42,000 people in more than 40 countries and earns most of its revenues from outside of the US. The company operates four businesses: test and measurement, semi-conductor products, healthcare solutions and chemical analysis, supported by a central laboratory. Its businesses apply measurement technologies to develop products that sense, analyze, display and communicate data.