Motorola slashes 2,500 jobs at mobile manufacturer

Motorola is to close its Harvard mobile phone manufacturing unit with the loss of 2,500 jobs.

The company said the unit would change its operation focus to customer service and the development of new products. Mike Zafirovski, head of the Motorola unit, claimed the site could not remain competitive even though the employees had lowered production costs and improved quality. He added it was impossible to remain competitive when there is a surplus global capacity at Motorola's lower cost sites. The manufacturing unit will cease production on 30 June this year and the remaining manufacturing activities will be merged into other company locations and to Motorola outsourcing partner. All eligible employees will receive competitive severance payments.