ATS lays off 85 workers

ATS Automation Tooling Systems has cut 85 jobs in its Cambridge operations as part of its $30-million restructuring plan.

In a statement issued yesterday, ATS said it cut jobs "across various levels of the organization."

The Cambridge-based company said the move is "one element of a broader worldwide program . . . announced in February (and) designed to restore profitability in our fiscal 2009 year."

In January 2007, ATS cut 180 jobs, including 100 in Cambridge. The latest cuts represent six per cent of the company's local workforce, ATS explained in its statement.

Spokesperson Carl Galloway said yesterday the company would not make any additional comment.

ATS, which employs about 3,600 people worldwide, has been under pressure to make changes since two institutional investors successfully orchestrated a wholesale management shakeup at the company's annual meeting last September.

As part of its move to focus on its automation technology division, ATS plans to sell its struggling automotive parts division and spin off its France-based Photowatt solar division.

ATS recently wound down operations at its once highly touted Spheral Solar Power division after Spheral failed to successfully commercialize its flexible thin-film solar cells.

In its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, ATS lost $3.7 million, or five cents a share, compared to a loss of $2.4 million, or four cents a share, in the same period a year earlier.

The company's chief executive, Anthony Caputo, warned investors in February that the restructuring process will cut into revenues this year.

mhammond@therecord.com