Smith Corona to quit RI

Smith Corona to quit RI

SINGAPORE (AFP): Smith Corona Corp., the U.S. typewriter and office-equipment manufacturer, is closing its operations in Singapore and Batam in Indonesia and shifting them to Mexico, a business daily reported.

Tang Chuen Chong, head of Smith Corona operations here, said the company planned to complete the shutdown by the end of the year and was looking for a buyer to take over the plants, Business Times said.

The closure, a part of the company's worldwide restructuring, would mean the loss of 550 jobs in Singapore and 500 in Batam. "If a buyer can be found some of the jobs might be saved," Tang told the newspaper.

Smith Corona's Singapore facility, which produces portable electronic typewriters, has been operational since 1974.

Most of the one million typewriters it produced here every year were exported to the United States. Last year the Singapore unit logged sales of S$100 million (US$71.4 million).

The Batam plant was set up in 1991 when the company relocated a part of its assembly and components manufacturing operations from here.