Aerojet Rocketdyne to cut staff by 10%
Aerojet Rocketdyne, the rocket engine maker with a factory in Canoga Park, will cut 10% of its staff, according to its parent company, GenCorp Inc.
About 500 jobs will be eliminated over the next four years across the company, according to a statement from GenCorp, which has its headquarters in Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova.
Aerojet has about 1,300 employees in Canoga Park. GenCorp did not say how many of those workers would be laid off.
“This is a very difficult decision and I recognize the impact on our dedicated colleagues that will be affected,” Scott Seymour, GenCorp’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Aerojet has had several setbacks in recent months.
Last month, Warren Boley, Aerojet’s president, abruptly resigned.
On Oct. 28, an unmanned rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station exploded seconds after liftoff from coastal Virginia. The preliminary investigation blamed the rocket’s decades-old Soviet engines. The rocket’s owner, Orbital Sciences, had bought the engines from Aerojet.
And last fall, United Launch Alliance, the firm that has an exclusive deal to launch Pentagon satellites, bypassed Aerojet in picking a partner to develop a new rocket engine.
GenCorp said the workforce cuts would save $145 million in annual costs by 2019.
The parent company also announced it was changing its name to Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. from GenCorp.
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