CORNING, NY, Oct. 4 -- Corning Incorporated has unveiled an expanded companywide restructuring program that will result in charges of up to $1 billion in 2001. In addition, the company said that permanent workforce reductions, including those previously announced, may reach 12,000 employees by the end of the year. The company will also temporarily idle the majority of its worldwide optical fiber manufacturing facilities. "The deterioration of global economic conditions, especially over the past few weeks, has impacted all of Corning's businesses. In particular, we have experienced another drop in demand for optical fiber and cable as telecommunications carriers continue to curtail capital spending around the world. The telecommunications industry is experiencing an extremely difficult and challenging period," said John W. Loose, president and chief executive officer. The company said it would idle most of its worldwide optical fiber manufacturing while maintaining limited production at certain facilities for customer responsiveness. These actions will take effect in late October. Fiber manufacturing operations will resume in 2002 as business conditions improve. Corning Cable Systems will also significantly reduce production at several optical cable manufacturing facilities. This operating plan will allow the company to match production with demand and significantly reduce inventories.