Puerto Rico Plant Shut by Pacific Scientific

Pacific Scientific Co., a manufacturer of industrial and aerospace products, said Monday that it has shut its operations in Puerto Rico and moved the manufacturing of one product line to Weymouth, Mass.

Richard Plat, senior vice president for finance and administration, said the company laid off 165 workers in Puerto Rico but that those layoffs have been offset by hiring at other company locations. He said the company’s work force remains at about 1,800.

Plat said the company sold one of its Puerto Rican subsidiaries and moved the second subsidiary to Weymouth, Mass., in order to improve its manufacturing efficiency. He said the company will incur a one-time charge against earnings of about $300,000 in the third quarter as a result of the move.

“We felt it was more efficient to centralize the business in existing facilities and eliminate overhead and transportation expenses,” Plat said.

One product line, a cable-tension testing instrument, was sold to the division’s Puerto Rico-based management for about $800,000. Plat said the new Puerto Rican company has hired some of the workers who were laid off.

The company’s outdoor lighting control product line has been moved to Weymouth, where about 200 people have been hired at the company’s Fisher Pierce plant, boosting total employment there to 385, Plat said.

For the third quarter ended Sept. 28, Pacific Scientific reported earnings of $1.2 million, up 9% from $1.1 million a year earlier. The company reported revenue of $46.2 million, up 12.1% from a year earlier.

Edgar S. Brower, chairman and chief executive, said the company has a strong backlog of $95 million and he noted that he anticipates continued strong sales of the company’s fire suppression equipment, robotics and automation equipment, and air contamination detection systems.