One-Third of Work Force Affected : Smith-Corona to Cut Staff

Smith-Corona is cutting back its product lines in a move to eliminate 600 jobs, one-third of the company’s U.S. work force, within the next six months, company officials said Tuesday.

Nearly 1,200 people are employed at the company’s South Cortland plant, where 350 of the 600 layoffs will occur, officials said at a news conference in Cortland.

More than 3,000 people have been laid off by Smith-Corona over the last 10 years as the company has been forced to close all of its plants except the one in South Cortland.

Jerry Stoddard, a vice president of the SCM Corp. division, said Smith-Corona is eliminating production of a deluxe electronic portable typewriter manufactured here and an electric mechanical machine made in Singapore.

He said the company will now concentrate on producing low-cost and compact electronic portable typewriters.

Stoddard said the cutbacks “will cause some termination but not the immediate closing of a building.”

Smith-Corona employees said in November that they had been told that layoffs were pending at the South Cortland plant, but company officials did not confirm the report.

SCM Corp. had a profit of $24.5 million in fiscal 1983, but the Smith-Corona division showed a net loss of more than $11 million over the same period.