Wavetek Lays Off 90 at Indianapolis Plant

Wavetek said Thursday that it laid off about 90 of its 515 employees at an Indianapolis plant and announced a plan to sell off two sections of the business to a former Wavetek president.

The work-force reduction is part of a restructuring that will “sharpen our business focus and return the company to profitability early in fiscal 1986,” Wavetek President John W. Battin said. Earlier this month, Wavetek laid off 50 employees at a New Jersey subsidiary that it plans to sell and, several months ago, closed a Pennsylvania R&D; operation.

Battin said former President Louis W. Abbott, who left Wavetek in June, will purchase the company’s two-way land mobile-communications test equipment and specialized television-manufacturing test equipment product lines and operate them as part of a newly formed company in Indianapolis. The two product lines contributed about 5% of Wavetek’s $81.5 million in 1984 revenue. Wavetek will continue to produce general purpose and electronic-test and measurement equipment at the Indiana plant.

Wavetek did not release a sales price for the transaction, which could be completed by the end of December.