News

Planar to shutter Oregon, Wisconsin facilities

August 26, 2004

BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Flat-panel display manufacturer Planar Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:PLNR), currently in the process of shifting its manufacturing units overseas, has announced that it will close plants in Lake Mills, Wis., and Hillsboro, Ore., and a development unit in Beaverton.

The company, which manufactures a wide range of display and kiosk touchscreen display products for the medical, transportation, military, and hospitality markets, announced in its second-quarter earnings report that it would close the Lake Mills plant, which produces LCD touchscreens. The plant is closing as Planar shifts all LCD manufacturing overseas.

The company announced that most of the plant's 145 employees would be laid off as Planar winds down the facility over the next 12 months.

Planar's Hillsboro facility produces electroluminescent displays commonly used at gas pumps and older ATM machines. Company officials, citing slowdowns in this particular segment of its business, told the Portland Business Journal in late August that it was shutting down the plant and consolidating it with a similar facility in Espoo, Finland.

At the same time, the company will close its photonics division in Beaverton. The division was created last year to make components for the optical communications industry. But financial problems in the telecom industry this year have eroded the market for that unit, company officials said.

About 55 employees will be affected in Oregon. Planar officials said most of them will be shifted to other units in the company.

For the second quarter of 2002, ending June 28, the company reported net income of $1.6 million on revenue of $58 million. While revenue increased 10.6 percent over the $52.5 million reported in the same period last year, net income dropped 59.2 percent from 2002's second-quarter profit of $4 million. A series of non-recurring charges related to plant and division closures created much of the decrease.