Lockheed Martin will lay off approximatley 90 engineering employees in an effort to better balance the mix of skills within about 14 offices nationwide, NBCDFW learned Monday. A spokesman originally said 120 employees would be affected in Dallas, Orlando and other off sites, but later called to correct himself.
All 90 employees will come from Lockheed's Dallas division of missiles and fire control, company spokesman Craig Vanbebber said Monday afternoon.
Only 1 percent of DFW-area Lockheed employees will be affected, the company spokesperson stressed.
“Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control continues a path of strong performance, but it is also a business that experiences some fluctuating business patterns based on changing customer requirements, economic conditions and program phases,” the company said in an emailed statement.
“The company believes that any employment actions are made with a view to strengthening our competitive posture and positioning the business for long-term growth,” the statement continued.
Lockheed Martin said it is making every effort to reduce the impact on affected employees as much as possible by doing things like offering early retirement to those who are nearing retirement age.
The company said it was still hiring, despite these layoffs.
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The company announced in January a plan to cut 1,200 jobs to lower costs at is combined to other units. Lockheed said employees were notified in April if they were affected.
These layoffs announced Monday are not part of those announced in January, Vanbebber said in a telephone interview.
Those layoffs affected the former maritime systems and sensors business in Washington, D.C. and its systems integration unit in Owego, N.Y., according to CNBC.
The newly combined unit, Mission Systems & Sensors, will provide services to maritime forces. It currently employs about 16,000 workers. Its headquarters is in Washington, but workers are spread at many locations including Baltimore, Syracuse, N.Y.; Akron, Ohio, and others.
Vanbebber stresses these recently announced layoffs within his division are not the result of any programs being cut.
Lockheed Martin is an aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. It is one of the largest defense contractors in the world. In 2008, 70 percent of Lockheed Martin’s income came from military sales, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The company employed 15,900 people in the DFW metroplex, according to the 2006 Dallas Business Journal Book of Lists.
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