A downturn in the PC market is causing Gateway Inc. to cut about 12 percent of the work force at its Salt Lake manufacturing and call center.

Spokesman Tyson Heyn of the San Diego-based company said the company has about 930 at the facility, located at 5420 W. 2100 South. That would equate to about 111 employees losing their jobs.

The company had announced Jan. 11 that cutbacks would be occurring over the next few weeks throughout the company's global operations.

"This work-force reduction has not been singling out any form or function or department," he said. "It's really affecting a multitude of disciplines, including manufacturing, call center, billing, marketing and product development."

The company will cut about 3,000 employees from its worldwide total of about 24,000, he said.

The company announced after the Thanksgiving holiday that it did not experience the typical post-holiday spike in sales and thus lowered its earnings expectations for the fourth quarter of the year. When the fourth-quarter figures were announced Jan. 11, the results were still below the lowered expectations.

"The company saw this wasn't a one-quarter issue and that the weakness in demand would continue through the first quarter of 2001," Heyn said. "We needed to streamline operations to better compete in the current marketplace."

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The Salt Lake facility opened in July 1998. It ramped up from 158 employees in August of that year to 746 by the end of that year. It is one of three primarily manufacturing facilities for PCs, and its call centers handles calls for support from within the United States.

Other PC makers are being affected by the market downturn. "We don't believe this is a Gateway-specific situation. It is indicative of a larger slowdown affecting technology and nontechnology companies," Heyn said.

"This is a very difficult decision. It's not easy to make these kinds of choices, but it is mandated by today's current economic climate."


E-MAIL: bwallace@desnews.com

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