Layoffs, Furloughs Driven by Efficiency, Honeywell Says
Honeywell International (HON) is apparently laying off people in its aerospace division because it is too efficient.
"When you look at the layoffs and furloughs ... a lot of that is being driven by just better and better efficiency within our aerospace business," said CEO David Cote in a conference call Friday.
Real Money confirmed Tuesday that the company is implementing a small reduction of positions in certain areas of aerospace this year.
"Tim (Mahoney, divisional CEO for the aerospace segment) has been doing a remarkable job of making all our processes work better, whether it's how we engineer or how we manufacture, how we run our staff functions," said Cote. "It's really just being driven by doing a better job overall, which is a good sign, certainly puts us in a better position to grow."
The company said the reduction will better align costs with current demand. The number of jobs to be cut has not been disclosed.
But the aerospace area has struggled this year. Honeywell noted that its aerospace sales were down 1%.