Sony announces October layoffs for Terre Haute plant

TERRE HAUTE - Sony Corp. announced Thursday it is laying off more than 30 people from its Terre Haute facility as of October 1.

The reduction of 35 jobs amounts to about 2.5 percent of the work force at the Sony DADC plant, which is on Fruitridge Avenue on the city's east side.

"As part of our continued efforts to establish and sustain cost-effective operations to remain competitive in an ever challenging economic landscape, we are moving forward with various transformation initiatives," Sony Corp. of America officials said in a statement issued Thursday. "These initiatives include both strategic and tactical measures to best align our operations with the changing demand of our customer base. As part of theses initiatives, we are implementing a reduction in staff in our Terre Haute facility."

The workforce reduction will bring to about 1,400 the number of people employed at the Terre Haute Sony DADC plant, a Sony spokeswoman said Thursday. The spokeswoman said she was not aware which department or departments would be affected by the layoffs.

Sony has been struggling lately to keep up with its rivals in the video game market, according to financial analysts. The company recently slashed the price of its PlayStation 3 video game system, which uses Sony's new Blu-ray technology, by $100.

The price cut was designed to increase sales of PlayStation 3 in relation to the lower-priced and better-selling Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii, analysts report.