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Banyak syarikat terkemuka dunia A.S. mengambil sikap
berjimat dan membuang pekerja walaupun sayangkan
mereka (Seagate misalnya menutup kilangnya) untuk
memastikan dapat terus hidup dan bersaing di dunia.
Tetapi Mahathir membuka semula kilang Bakunnya dan
membina projek berjuta-juta yang banyak tidak berguna
daripada memberi guna. Projek Wetland Putrajaya misalnya
dibuat untuk burung-burung di angkasa turun bermain dan
bersuka-suka dan sudah tentu boleh berasmara. Harga
minyak dinaikkan dan tarif air tidak ketinggalan
menumpang sama. Cuba perhatikan keadaan kilang di negara kita yang bakal
terganggu oleh kelembapan. Berbeda dengan sektor pembinaan
yang menggaji ramai pekerja asing, sektor perkilangan
memberi sumber pendapatan penting kepada rakyat tempatan.
Sedikit sebanyak ramai akan tercedera dengan penutupan
kilang dan pembuangan pekerja. Seagate bercadang menutup satu kilangnya di Penang, Malaysia.
Terdapat 4,000 pekerja di situ. Syarikat itu masih mempunyai
dua lagi kilang di Malaysia. Sebelum ini satu kilangnya di
Ipoh telah ditutup pada Oktober lepas.
Intel yang juga mempunyai kilang di Malaysia bercadang untuk
menggugurkan 5,000 dari 86,000 pekerja (6%). Ia baru sahaja
melapurkan keuntungan yang tidak menepati sasaran (25%
tersasar kebawah) Sahamnya jatuh 11% dan fenomena ini turut
mengheret beberapa syarikat lain yang berkaitan. Cisco,
Microsoft, IBM, Sun, Dell, Gateway, dan Compaq tidak ketinggalan
mendapat nombor malang. Dell pula mengatakan ia akan membuang 1,7000 (4%) dari 62,200
pekerja. Ini merupakan satu rekod terbesar pengguguran oleh Dell
sejak ditubuhkan. Tetapi analis berpendapat mungkin 5,000 akan
hilang pekerjaan. Walaupun begitu Dell bolehlah dikatakan masih
segar walaupun terdemam sedikit kerana ia begitu pantas
membesarkan syarikat. Hewlett-Packard dilapurkan akan mengurangkan 1,700 (2%) pekerja
tetapi Gateway akan memancung 3,000 jawatan (10%) banyaknya.
Kesemua syarikat ini mempunyai kilang atau menggaji orang yang
tidak sedikit bilangannya di negara ini. Dua kategori rakyat
akan merasa bahangnya - golongan professional IT dan jurutera
elektronik serta operator. Bukan itu sahaja - ia akan mencederakan
industri sokongan kepada kilang-kilang ini juga. Dan kaum Cina
banyak yang mempeloporinya.... Oleh kerana kilang-kilang ini banyak berada dinegeri yang kuat BN-nya,
suasana politik dijangka bergolak kerananya. Kali ini kaum Cina pun
akan turut terasa peritnya bila kerja dan bisnes menjadi semakin tiada.
Disinilah gunanya dana untuk menolong mereka tetapi sayang ia telah
semakin kurang kerana telah diberi kepada kroni yang manja.
-TJr Kapal Berita- http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-5078237.html?tag=lh
Seagate to shut Malaysian factory, cut jobs
By Bloomberg News March 9, 2001, 10:10 a.m. PT Seagate Technology, one of the world's biggest disk drive makers, said
it will close a factory in Malaysia by year's end, its second in five
months as it looks to cut costs. Seagate will offer severance packages to the 4,000 workers at the plant
in the northern state of Penang, although those who choose not to
accept will be moved to Seagate's two other plants in the country,
spokesman Forrest Monroy said. In October, Seagate closed a factory
in Ipoh in the northern state of Perak.
"In our efforts to improve efficiency and productivity, we are able to
produce a record number of disk drives with less manufacturing space,"
Monroy said. The step comes as global demand for electronic components, from
semiconductors to disk drives, slows. Intel, the No. 1 chipmaker, said
Thursday that first-quarter sales will miss forecasts and that it will cut
5,000 jobs. The tech market slowdown is bad news for Malaysia, where
exports account for about half of the nation's economy--and electronic
components make up about two-thirds of total exports.
Malaysia's economy grew 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2000, its
slowest pace in 1 1/2 years, as demand for electronic goods produced
by Unisem and other chipmakers faltered because of fewer orders from
the United States and other export markets.
Despite the factory shutdown, Monroy said Scotts Valley, Calif.-based
Seagate is still looking at Malaysia as a key manufacturing base.
"Malaysia will continue to be a strategic location and focus of capital
investment," he said. From The Asian Wall Street Journal Seagate Blames Consolidation For Malaysia Plant Closure
By CRIS PRYSTAY Staff Reporter KUALA LUMPUR -- Seagate Technology Inc. said internal consolidation --
not the recent drop in demand for electronics products -- prompted the
U.S. company to close one of its four manufacturing plants in Malaysia
last week. About 4,000 employees at Seagate's disk-drive assembly plant in Penang
state will be affected by the closure, which was announced Thursday.
The closure is the second scaling back of Malaysian operations by
Seagate in the past five months. In October, Seagate said it will shut
a thin-film magnetic recording-head factory in Ipoh. That plant, which
employs about 2,000 workers, will cease operations later this year.
"Over the last two years, we've put efforts into increasing
productivity and efficiency in our global operations," said Forrest
Monroy, Seagate's senior corporate- communications director. "That's
what this is really about. It's a consolidation, not only in Malaysia,
but in our operations around the world."
Seagate has halved its global work force -- most of which is located
in Asia -- since 1998. The company said improved efficiency allows
Seagate's global manufacturing operations to increase production using
less manufacturing space. "The closure is not a result of near-term
pressure -- it's a process," said Mr. Monroy. "As we continue to
improve, we have shown ourselves to be able to produce more disk
drives with more sophisticated technology and less manufacturing
space." Seagate doesn't intend to relocate the operations now performed by the
plant that is to be closed. "It's not a question of transferring
operations anywhere. It's just a question of having too much
manufacturing space," Mr. Monroy said.
Mr. Monroy said a third Seagate factory, also in Penang, will remain
in operation and will serve as the company's global headquarters for
recording-head manufacturing. Aside from its disk-drive-related operations, Seagate also has a
printed-circuit-board assembly plant in Johor, in southern Malaysia.
State government officials in Penang -- the heartland of Malaysia's
vital electronic-manufacturing sector -- say that while no other
multinationals have announced closures or large-scale layoffs, they
expect business to be affected as the U.S. economy slows, cutting
demand for electronics imports. About 23% of Malaysia's exports go to
the U.S., with most of that total comprised of electronics goods and
components. "We have to be prepared for more retrenchments at least over the next
two quarters says Dr. Toh Kin Woon, Penang's state minister for the
economy and human resources. "Semiconductor chip sales are down, and
inventories are up. Many multinational electronics firms have seen
falling orders. So I think many firms may be taking the opportunity to
restructure world-wide operations." Malaysia's manufacturing production index fell 7% in January from
December. Seagate was taken private in the last quarter of 2000 when an
investors' group led by Silver Lake Partners acquired the Scotts
Valley, California-based company. Seagate and its affiliated companies
are now controlled by New SAC, a Cayman Island-based company created
for the acquisition. http://interactive.wsj.com/ http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-5076347.html
Tech stocks slump on Intel warning
By Margaret Kane Special to CNET News.com March 9, 2001, 9:45 a.m. PT Technology stocks took a beating at midday Friday as the market
continued to react to warnings from bellwethers.
The Nasdaq plunged 101.70 points to 2,067.03, and the Dow Jones
industrial average dropped 185.60 points to 10,672.65.
Shares of eBay slumped $5 to $34.13 after Lehman Brothers analyst
Holly Becker issued a pessimistic note about the company's future.
Supply chain software maker i2 Technologies announced plans to
acquire RightWorks, a maker of procurement software in a deal worth
around $114 million. The news shook up the business-to-business
marketplace with speculation that it could lead to a price war. i2 was off
$2.31 to $19.13, Commerce One slipped $2.38 to $11.25, Ariba fell
$1.75 to $11.88, and PurchasePro dropped $1.44 to $10.50.
Analysts worried that bad news from Intel could be a sign of weakness
in overseas markets. The company lowered revenue estimates for the
first quarter Thursday and announced it would trim 5,000 jobs. Intel fell
$3.56 to $29.69. Rival Advanced Micro Devices dropped $2.25 to
$23.75. The Securities and Exchange Commission may be probing a sale of
stock by Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos. The New York Times reported
that the probe centers on stock sold by Bezos in early February just
before a Wall Street firm released a negative research report on the
company. Among other leading tech issues, Cisco Systems dropped $2.19 to
$20.63, and Microsoft was down $2.50 to $56.75. IBM fell $6.17 to
$100.30, and Sun Microsystems lost $2.06 to $18.25.
Staff and Reuters contributed to this report.
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