Ingram Micro UK escapes US jobs cull

Ingram Micro, the largest global wholesale tech product provider and supply chain management services, said yesterday it will slash as many as 1,000 jobs, close some US operations, streamline product offerings and take a second quarter restructuring charge of up to $15m (£10.7m).

But a spokesperson for Ingram Micro UK said the announcement is a US development and is not connected to the UK. The UK operation currently has a head count freeze.

"We have an ongoing review," said the spokesperson. "We are relying on natural attrition to get the head count to what we see as a suitable level where we are as lean and mean as we can be." He declined to comment on what percentage of the workforce this would entail.

In the US, the California-based firm said it expects to save $30m (£20.6m) to $40m a year through reorganisation efforts, blaming the ongoing softening demand in the IT industry for the move.

"We took aggressive action based on our analysis of business process improvements and the market,'' said Kevin Murai, president, Ingram Micro US, in a statement. "Our decision to make reductions to our headcount is difficult, but necessary. However, the strides we are making in inventory management and automation, for example, enable us to streamline our operations without disrupting our productivity and service objectives."

Jobs cuts were announced across the board at Ingram, including administrative positions in California and Buffalo and IT, product management, sales, and employees in certain distribution and returns processing centres. The company expects these actions to result in a restructuring charge not expected to exceed $15m in the second quarter.

Restructuring plans also call for Ingram to close the Newark, California, distribution centre and Santa Ana and Rancho Cucamonga returns processing centres (also in California) and downsize its Miami distribution centre.

The company will also consolidate its product management division from six product categories to four: systems, networking and high-end storage, peripherals and software. Two specialised teams will focus on inventory management and business process improvement within the US.

IT resources will also be reorganised, with the company automating more business systems, integrate e-commerce applications globally.

Ingram's US sales group will be divided into six groups concentrating on specific customer segments, including corporate resellers, strategic accounts, direct and consumer markets, value-added resellers (VARs) servicing small-to midsize businesses (SMBs), enterprise solutions VARs and government and education VARs.

ZDNet UK's Matt Loney contributed to this report

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