EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Carrier Corp. will close its manufacturing operations and eliminate 1,200 jobs at its suburban Syracuse container refrigeration and compressor plants by next June, the company announced Monday.
Carrier said it would maintain its remaining 1,600 jobs at the East Syracuse plant, where it also has warehouse, administrative, engineering and research facilities.
The company said it could eventually expand its research and development operations in East Syracuse.
"Manufacturing moves are exceptionally difficult, but this move is essential to Carrier's competitiveness and growth," said Ted Amyuni, Carrier's senior vice president for operations.
"These decisions reflect, in part, market requirements. The global container market has become Asian-focused, with more than 80 percent of our container refrigeration products currently being shipped to Asia," Amyuni said. "We must be located nearer to our markets."
Carrier said its container refrigeration business would be handled by its existing manufacturing facility in Singapore. The company's compressor manufacturing will be transferred to its plants in Stone Mountain, Ga., and China.
Company spokesman Jonathan Shaw said Carrier's compressor business has fallen by 50 percent over the past three years, reflecting an industrywide decline as customers have switched to newer technology.
The shutdown of the East Syracuse manufacturing operation is expected to be completed by next June. Shaw said it was not yet determined when the layoffs would begin.
Carrier, which employs 40,000 people worldwide and is the world's largest manufacturer of heating, cooling and air conditioning systems and equipment, is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. UTC also owns Pratt & Whitney, Otis Elevators, Hamilton Sunstrand and Sikorsky. Carrier posted sales of more than $8 billion in 2002.