Johnson Controls To Cut More Jobs, Close 10 Plants

[Purveyor]

Source: Reuters

DETROIT, March 27 (Reuters) - Auto interiors and battery maker Johnson Controls Inc (JCI.N) said it would close an additional 10 plants and cut more jobs than planned as it expects no near-term recovery in global auto production.

Johnson Controls, the third-biggest auto parts supplier in North America, said it had completed two-thirds of its restructuring announced at the end of 2008, which included shutting 21 plants and reducing 9,300 jobs, or 7 percent of its global workforce.

But the company is stepping up cost cuts in response to a deepening economic downturn. U.S. auto sales plunged about 40 percent in the first two months of 2009 to nearly 30-year lows.

The Milwaukee-based company forecast vehicle production this year at 8.8 million units in North America and 14.3 million in Europe. In January it forecast making 9.2 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2009.

Johnson Controls declined to comment how many jobs it planned to cut in addition to the 9,300 positions, or where most of the reductions would take place.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2754161520090327