Sunbeam Shaves 6,400 Jobs

Sunbeam Corp. is slashing more than 6,400 jobs and closing eight factories as it absorbs the Coleman, Mr. Coffee and First Alert companies.

The sweeping cuts were announced Monday at an analysts' meeting in New York by Sunbeam Chairman Al Dunlap, who has a reputation for making deep staff cuts. The cuts affect more than 40 percent of all employees of the four companies.

The four companies' brands include Sunbeam, Oster, Grillmaster, Coleman, Powermate, East Pak, Camping Gaz, Mr. Coffee, Health o meter, Pelouze, First Alert, Family Gard and BRK.

The factories to be closed include four Coleman, two Sunbeam, one First Alert and one of Mr. Coffee's Signature Brands plants.

The upheaval is reminiscent of wholesale changes imposed by Dunlap, nicknamed "Chainsaw Al," at Sunbeam in November 1996 and his previous job at Scott Paper Co. Dunlap slashed half of Sunbeam's 12,000-employee workforce and closed nearly three-quarters of its factories and warehouses in 1996 before hunting for new businesses.

Delray Beach-based Sunbeam anticipates a one-time charge of $380 million and annual cost savings of $250 million from the consolidation, expected to be complete in about a year.

Sunbeam expects the combination of the integration and new products to generate at least $265 million in new annual revenues.

About 2,300 U.S. jobs and 2,800 in Mexico will be eliminated, and Coleman's East Pak backpack, compressor and hot tub businesses will be cut for a loss of another 1,300 employees. The combined companies will be left with 9,500 workers.

The four existing headquarters will be combined in one new office in Boca Raton.

Coleman is based at Wichita, Kan.; Signature Brands USA Inc., the maker of Mr. Coffee, is based at Glenwillow, Ohio; and First Alert Inc. headquarters is at Aurora, Ill.

By Catherine Wilson