Defense Contractor Ceradyne Cuts 8 Jobs, Loses Chief Officer

Ceradyne, a struggling defense contractor that specializes in making ceramic components, said Friday that a restructuring will eliminate eight jobs and result in the retirement of its chief operating officer. The company cut employees in Costa Mesa and restructured management so that divisions report directly to the chief executive, said James Gardner, chief financial officer. As part of the restructuring, Robert E. Cassell, who has been chief operating officer for five years, will retire Monday.

The cost cuts are expected to result in savings of $700,000 a year. For the three months ended June 30, the company reported a loss of $848,000, or 14 cents a share, compared with a loss of $692,000, or 11 cents, a share a year earlier. Sales fell 7% to $4.1 million from $4.4 million a year ago. Gardner said the company’s divisions in Georgia and Kentucky are profitable but that the Costa Mesa plant, has lost money as a result of a decline in defense sales.

Modesto Shutdown: James River Corp.’s food and consumer packaging business said Friday it will close its Modesto plant and move operations to another company facility, possibly one in Garden Grove.

As part of the Richmond, Va., company’s restructuring program, it will close the Modesto folding carton plant, which has 235 workers. The work will be transferred to one of the company’s 14 folding-carton facilities in, among other locations, Garden Grove, Portland, Ore., and Redmond, Wash.

The company did not say whether Modesto workers would be transferred to other locations or lose their jobs.

James River makes food, consumer packaging, and paper products, including such brands as Dixie cups and plates and Northern bathroom tissue. The packaging division reported sales of $4.7 billion in 1992.

James River stock closed down 25 cents Friday at $21 per share on the New York Stock Exchange.