International Business / The Pacific

Mazda to Furlough 4,000 Workers: The troubled Japanese auto maker will idle the employees at two plants to temporarily cut production and reduce excess inventory. Mazda Motor Corp., partly owned by Ford Motor Co., said it will close its Ujina plant in Hiroshima state for 11 days over the next three months, idling 3,500 workers. Five hundred workers at a second plant in Hofu will stay home four days. Workers will receive partial pay, executives said. The plants, in southwestern Japan, produce the MX-5 Miata and RX-7 sports cars, the MPV Minivan and other models. Executives hope the company will break even on a pretax basis this year, a sharp improvement from the $330-million loss it racked up in the fiscal year ended in March 1995. Since 1993, Mazda has eliminated 4,000 jobs and reduced its work force to 26,000.