Toshiba Cuts 15 Jobs, Transfers Workers

Toshiba America Information Systems said Tuesday that it has laid off about 15 employees who assemble telephones and also has transferred some staff members so that it can make more computers at its plant here.

Robert Wittenburg, spokesman for the U.S. subsidiary of Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp., said the company’s manufacturing division has shifted its assembly of business telephones from Irvine to overseas plants, cutting about 15 local jobs. The shift will leave Toshiba with more space to manufacture portable computers in Irvine, Wittenburg said. About 15 of 30 telephone assembly workers have been reassigned to computer assembly, and an unspecified number will be hired, he said.

Overall, the 1,100-person work force in Irvine is expected to increase, he said, because of the higher demand for computers.