Azusa : Aerojet to Lay Off 200

Aerojet announced this week that it will lay off about 200 employees--mostly managers--from one facility in Tennessee and four in California, including the Electronics Systems Division in Azusa.

Officials had not yet determined how many workers would lose their jobs at the Azusa plant, which has about 1,600 employees, a spokeswoman for the aerospace company said.

Aerojet hopes to save about $20 million a year by eliminating top positions in its marketing, purchasing and other administrative departments, which will soon be consolidated and handled out of the company’s Sacramento headquarters. Layoff notices will be handed out over the next six months at the Azusa electronics division; the ordnance division’s facilities in Chino Hills, Downey and Jonesborough, Tenn.; and the propulsion division in Sacramento.

Since summer, 1991, Aerojet has reacted to a sharp downturn in the defense industry by cutting about 2,000 employees in all of its divisions. The Azusa plant, however, has been spared deep cuts in the work force.

New business this year for the Azusa plant includes a $500-million contract from the U.S. Air Force to develop a device that enables military satellites to detect and report on missile launches and nuclear detonations. And last month the facility won a $45.5-million contract from NASA to design an instrument that will help scientists monitor climate changes on Earth.