Projo Biz Blog

Hasbro, the world's second-largest toymaker, said this afternoon it will cut 200 jobs at its factory in East Longmeadow, Mass., as part of its plans to improve productivity at the plant where board games are made.

The company said it will invest about $40 million, including $10 million right away, to overhaul its equipment.

The company will bring new injection-molding, die-cutting and printing machines to the plant, said Wayne S. Charness, a Hasbro senior vice president, though some work at the plant, where the company makes popular board games such as Monopoly, will move to China.

The company's recently announced purchase of board-game maker Cranium Inc. is unrelated to today's move, he said.

The affected workers are all unionized, members of the Retail Wholesale Department Store Union, an affiliate of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

The layoffs will begin in February, he said. After they are complete, about 1,150 workers will remain at the plant in Massachusetts, the bulk of them unionized.

Hasbro will record a charge to its earning related to the layoffs in the fourth quarter of last year, Charness said. The company does not expect the charge to be material to its financial results.

Hasbro's fourth-quarter earnings call is scheduled for Feb. 11.

Pawtucket-based Hasbro made the annoucement at noontime today. The company's stock (HAS:NYSE) was trading at 1:20 p.m. at $22.50 a share, down 92 cents a share.

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