Brother Corp. Will Lay Off 40 Employees

Brother International Corp., a manufacturer of sewing machines and typewriters, is planning to lay off 40 of its 141 employees here, a company official said Wednesday.

Employees in the distribution, order entry and credit departments will lose their jobs this fall as the company moves those functions to other branches, said Robert Reigrod, senior vice president at Brother western regional headquarters in Irvine.

Reigrod said the layoffs are necessary because of the downturn in the national economy. “We want to do what is necessary to create a healthy company for the future, so we really had no choice,” he said.

Brother International is a unit of Brother Industries Ltd. of Nagoya, Japan. Reigrod said the sales and dealer support operations will remain in Irvine; order entry and credit operations will be moved to the company’s U.S. headquarters in Somerset, N.J., and distribution will be handled from a center in Bartlett, Tenn.

The layoffs will take effect Nov. 30. Reigrod would not say how much the company expects to save through the layoffs.

The 1990 Standard and Poor’s Register lists Brother International’s annual sales at $318 million. The company also makes knitting machines, printers, fax machines and microwave ovens.