EAST LONGMEADOW, Massachusetts (AP) — Toy maker Hasbro Inc. said Wednesday it will cut 200 manufacturing and support jobs at a western Massachusetts factory, but also invest $40 million (euro27 million) to modernize the board game plant.
About 1,350 people work at the plant in East Longmeadow, just outside Springfield. The jobs to be cut beginning next month represent about 3 percent of the 5,800-person global work force at Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based Hasbro, said Wayne Charness, a spokesman for the world's second-largest toy company.
Hasbro also said it will immediately invest $10 million (euro6.8 million) to modernize equipment at the plant, as part of a $40 million (euro27 million) investment planned over the next few years for new molding machines, high-speed assembly lines and new printing and dye-cutting equipment.
The investment plan ''will depend on union agreement to certain work practice changes in order to make the plant competitive going forward,'' Hasbro said.
''While this was a difficult decision, we are optimistic that the union will work with us to make the changes necessary to allow us to become competitive and hopefully secure the substantial majority of manufacturing jobs based in East Longmeadow,'' said David Hargreaves, an executive vice president.
Most of Hasbro's board games will continue to be manufactured in East Longmeadow and a plant in Waterford, Ireland, the company said.
Shares of Hasbro fell 64 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $22.78, after hitting a new 52-week low of $22.21 earlier in the session. Shares have traded between $23.25 and $33.49 in the past 12 months.
