85 computer jobs in Racine going to firm in India ReceivedSPF: Neutral receiver=nym.alias.net clientip

By THOMAS CONTENT

Posted: July 19, 2006 JohnsonDiversey Inc. will eliminate 85 jobs in Racine as it moves to contract with an outside vendor for information technology services.

The Sturtevant-based provider of industrial cleaning products and services said it is negotiating a contract with what it termed "a leading global provider of integrated IT solutions."

In an announcement to employees, JohnsonDiversey Chief Executive Ed Lonergan identified the vendor as Wipro Technologies, a global IT outsourcing firm based in Bangalore, India.

The job cuts will be phased in over 18 months, and will affect 120 positions around the world, excluding Europe. Negotiations with employee councils in Europe will determine how many jobs could be affected there.

In Racine, about 20 jobs have already been reduced through attrition or rebuttignment. Ten to 15 employees in Racine are expected to be hired by Wipro.

"Taking this step will enable JohnsonDiversey to meet its IT needs at a far lower cost," Lonergan said in a statement. "Contracting with large vendors for IT services is a proven best practice that will help the company tap market best practices and to realize economies of scale it would never capture otherwise."

Donergan said that "strategic IT work will remain in house, enabling IT to play a central role in the delivery of our strategic choices. We will apply the money we save from transactional outsourcing to growing our core business."

Company spokesman John Matthews said he could not identify how many employees would continue working to handle strategic IT work.

The announcement comes as JohnsonDiversey restructures in a plan announced last fall. Stung by rising prices for oil and natural gas, key components in the company's cleaning products, JohnsonDiversey said in November that it would eliminate 10% of its global work force over the next two to three years and shut a "substantial" number of factories.

In March, the company said it would cut more than 500 jobs this year, including 80 in Sturtevant, as it sold its commercial laundry business and stops servicing commercial dishwashers in places such as restaurants and hospitals.

Unit sold to BASF In May, the company announced a deal to sell the Johnson Polymer business to BASF. The company agreed to hire 130 Johnson Polymer workers, though its commitment to keep those workers ends next year.

Leaders in Wyandotte, Mich., and Chattanooga, Tenn., are hoping that BASF decides to move the Johnson Polymer resins manufacturing business to their communities, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported late last month.

After the IT job cuts, JohnsonDiversey will have fewer than 1,000 employees in Racine County.

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