Unisys Corp is looking to reduce its worldwide workforce by 7% to 8% by the end of next year as part of a restructuring planned to follow a thorough top-to-bottom review of all aspects of the company’s operations. The company started the year with 93,000 employees but was already looking to cut this by 3%, which suggests that the company wants to slim by between 9,000 and 10,000 employees over the two-year period. In what sounds like bad news for its smaller OEM Unix systems suppliers, Arix Corp and ICL’s Computer Consoles, the company also wants to get as much manufacturing as possible in-house. The aim of the reductions is to cut the company’s cost base by at least $400m between now and the end of 1990. US marketing operations will be restructured to eliminate overhead and consolidate various administrative and technical support functions. Total marketing and distribution mechanisms for open systems products will be sharpened; and the worldwide manufacturing overhead will be reduced.The company also plans to accelerate the use of common parts and processes across product lines and to cut corporate overheads.
