New Focus cuts more jobs

Tunable laser maker New Focus will shed a business unit, which will result in the closure of an overseas manufacturing facility and the loss of about 350 jobs, the company announced Thursday. The company will stop making passive optical components, gear such as filters and lenses that do not require a power source to operate, and will shut its plant in Shenzhen, China by the end of the second quarter. San Jose, Calif.-based New Focus will record a restructuring charge between $25 million and $40 million and try to sell the division or license its technology to other manufacturers. New Focus previously announced it will close its plant in Camarillo, Calif., by the third quarter of this year and cut 160 employees. The company expects its work force to number 390 people in the fourth quarter of this year, a 57 percent decline from the 900 workers at the end of 2001. New Focus estimates the plant closures will save about $9 million per quarter in costs.