Hasbro’s U.S. toy and game operations had a disappointing 2011 and changes had to be made, spokesman Wayne S. Charness said.
Those changes include 170 layoffs worldwide, including 55 in the company’s Rhode Island Headquarters and three jobs cut from the company’s sprawling plant in East Longmeadow, Charness said. The jobs represent that last of the game sales and marketing staff who were stationing in East Longmeadow.
Hasbro’s East Longmeadow factory had 475 workers as of last week. But that number fluctuates seasonally, swelling as workers are brought in over the summer to make games like “Monopoly” and “Life” for the Christmas rush.
Hasbro had as many as 1,200 employees in East Longmeadow as recently as two years ago. That would have made it one of the largest manufacturing employers in the region.
Springfield’s Smith & Wesson has 1,200 employees. OMG Inc., in Agawam, a maker of hardware and roofing products, has more than 1,000 workers.
“This isn’t about East Longmeadow. It’s about the sales and marketing,” Charness said. “This really isn’t about the future of that operation.”
Hasbro announced in April it was reallocating about 150 jobs in marketing and game development from its East Longmeadow facility to the corporation’s Rhode Island headquarters. That left just about 50 white-collar workers in East Longmeadow not counting the three jobs cut Wednesday.
“The truth is, why the company’s business is strong, this group has not been able to perform the past couple of years,” Charness said “We need that business to return.”
For the full year of 2011, Hasbro reported record revenues of $4.29 billion, an increase of 7 percent over the $4 billion it recorded in 2010.
But most of that growth was overseas and evidently in realm of movie licensing and electronic games. U.S. and Canadian revenues were $2.25 million, down 2 percent from $2.29 million in 2010.
Worldwide game-and-puzzle revenue was $1.16 million, according to financial information released in February. That was a 10 percent drop from the $1.29 million recorded a year earlier.
-Masslive
