Avery Will Cut 900 Jobs, Write Down $85 Million

Avery Dennison Corp., the recently merged Pasadena-based office products company, said Friday that it will take an $85-million restructuring charge against earnings and eliminate as many as 900 jobs as part of a consolidation.

The company said the restructuring plan is designed to eliminate duplication in operations that resulted when the former Dennison Manufacturing Co., a Framingham, Mass., firm, merged last October with the larger Avery International. Cost-cutting is also needed to offset a recession-related decline in earnings, the company said.

Avery Dennison, which has about 19,000 employees in more than 250 facilities in 27 countries, said it would reduce its work force through attrition and layoffs of 700 to 900 employees over the next 18 months. The company plans to eliminate positions in all phases of its operations--manufacturing, clerical and administrative, said Diane Dixon, an Avery Dennison spokeswoman.

Of the jobs to be cut, about 500 will be eliminated at former Dennison Manufacturing facilities in Massachusetts, Dixon said. About 5,000 of Dennison’s 7,000 employees are located in Massachusetts. The company has not yet determined exactly where the other positions will be eliminated, Dixon said. About 150 are employed at the firm’s Pasadena headquarters.