Technicolor cuts 630 jobs at Camarillo facility
DVD maker's manufacturing to be done in Mexico
By Daniel Wolowicz camarilloacorn.com

Entertainment giant Technicolor announced Wednesday it's eliminating 630 jobs at the company's Camarillo location in a cost-cutting move that will eventually send some 1,200 jobs from its North American manufacturing plants to Mexico, company spokesman Tom Bracken said.

The job cuts will allow the Thomson-owned company to better compete in ongoing price wars in the DVD marketplace, Bracken said.

The entertainment industry had enjoyed double-digit annual growth rates in DVD sales over the past few years. Those numbers have slowed considerably, Bracken said, forcing major film studios, such as Paramount, Walt Disney and Universal, to seek out better pricing.

Technicolor also will close its manufacturing and packing plant in Illinois and "over the next several months the company will significantly scale down its principal manufacturing, packaging and distribution operations at its facility in Camarillo," Bracken said in a written statement.

Bracken said the job cuts at the Camarillo location- expected to be done by April 2007- will reduce its current number of 1,100 employees by more than half.

Technicolor is one of the city's top employers.

Similar cuts are being made at Technicolor's other facilities in Tennessee, Michigan and Canada.

"Thomson is announcing the proposed changes now to allow impacted employees to properly prepare for the future and to ensure an orderly transition of operations to the remaining designated facilities," Bracken said in a written statement. "The company will work to assist these employees during this difficult period of time."

Because much of the company's operations in Camarillo will be reduced, Bracken said the company has not yet decided whether they'll sell or lease their more than 900,000-square-feet of manufacturing and storage space.

The company will retain its corporate headquarters in Camarillo, Bracken said.

Jamshid Damooei, an economics professor at California Lutheran University, said it's common for companies to move their manufacturing facilities abroad to reduce costs and that Technicolor's decision to relocate to Mexico is "nothing new."

"The trend of relocating manufacturing jobs and looking for cheaper labor is a universal issue," Damooei said. "It's not something that's just happening in this county or in this country, it's happening in many other places."

Damooei said Camarillo's high cost of living- driven primarily by its expensive housing market- is the most likely reason Technicolor is forced to move.

"It's essential that we think about cost of living as one of the important factors impacting the business environment," Damooei said. "It does affect the wage expectation. It does affect the total benefits package given."

He said that because one job typically supports another two jobs in the same area, there will be "quite noticeable consequences" on the region's economy, which will reach beyond Camarillo and will likely impact the rest of the county.

Sam Castillo, coordinator with the Ventura County Business and Employment Department, said his office will host a two-day orientation Jan. 22 to 23 to help affected workers better understand what services are available to them through the county.

Castillo said the department offers counseling on how to deal with job loss and the disruption it creates in a home, both emotionally and financially. The department also gives advice on unemployment insurance, health care plans and reinvesting retirement savings.

On Jan. 25 and 26, the department will host workshops to discuss resume writing, job readiness and interviewing techniques.

Technicolor, an industry-leader in film processing, is the largest maker and distributor of DVDs and videocassettes in the world, with the ability to produce more than 1.7 billion DVDs annually, according to company's website.