A Giant Manufacturer Now Announces Unexpected Layoffs in California

April 16, 2024

A giant manufacturer now announces unexpected layoffs in California according to a state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification.

Thermo Fisher Scientific is laying off a total of 74 workers at a plasmid DNA manufacturing facility in Carlsbad, California, per the WARN filing.

Layoffs will take effect May 31.

The biotech and medical device company is still exploring options for the site’s future and no decision has been made regarding the fate of its operations, according to a Thermo Fisher spokesperson.

“There are times when we must adjust staffing levels to remain in line with current volume demands,” the company said in a statement.

“In alignment with this ongoing effort, we have made the decision to adjust staffing levels in our plasmids manufacturing laboratory at our location in Carlsbad, California.”

The closure comes less than three years after the biotech giant opened the site in a bid to tap into rising demand for cell and gene therapies and vaccines.

The 67,000-square-foot facility was expected to create 150 jobs when the project was first announced in December 2020.

Sadly, the medical device and equipment manufacturer has been downsizing its California operations over the past year, particularly in the San Diego area.

Thermo Fisher closed sites in Carroll Park Drive, Kearny Villa Road and Cornerstone last spring and cut 218 jobs amid waning demand for COVID-19 testing products.

The financial headwinds continued throughout 2023.

The company announced $450 million in cost cuts last year, including layoffs, citing a challenging macroeconomic environment in Q2.

Revenue was also down overall last year, sinking 5% year over year to about $42.9 billion, according to a Thermo Fisher earnings release.

The company is expecting to hold relatively steady revenue in fiscal year 2024, with a guidance range of $42.1 billion to $43.3 billion, Chairman, President and CEO Marc Casper said during a January earnings call.

“The medtech and drug manufacturing industries have been rife with layoffs and downsizing in recent months amid funding challenges and the end of the pandemic-driven vaccine and testing boom,” reports MedTech Dive.

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A massive grocery is now cutting major job roles a little over a year after the discounter let go of roughly 200 workers stateside.

Discount grocer Lidl has undergone a fresh set of layoffs stateside, a Lidl US spokesperson said in an email.

The cuts impacted corporate roles across three units at Lidl US.

People impacted by the layoffs held roles ranging from administrative assistant to senior IT specialist, according to LinkedIn posts.

The layoffs come a little over a year after Lidl US let go of roughly 200 employees — primarily impacting employees at its U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

The layoffs are the latest move by Lidl to rightsize its operations in the U.S. as it struggles to gain ground while rival Aldi hits the accelerator.

“Lidl US made the difficult decision to eliminate corporate roles across three functions within the business. While this is never an easy decision, we believe it is the right one for the business,” the spokesperson wrote.

The Lidl US spokesperson declined to say how many workers were impacted.

LinkedIn posts from several laid-off employees noted that the layoffs are part of a corporate restructuring plan.

A marketing manager who was laid off noted in a LinkedIn video posted Thursday that graphic designers, content producers, social media managers and information technology workers were included in the layoffs.

Laid-off Lidl US workers will receive severance packages and career transition support, the spokesperson said.

The job cuts last year came at a time when Lidl US was undertaking a corporate restructuring and aiming to boost its financial health.

Lidl US also underwent a round of layoffs at its U.S. headquarters a few years prior, according to German business publication Lebensmittel Zeitung.

Lidl opened its first U.S. stores in 2017 but has struggled to hit its stride and grow stateside.

Meanwhile, competitor Aldi, which entered the U.S. in the 1970s, continues to rapidly expand its store fleet, with plans to open an additional 800 stores by the end of 2028, reports Grocery Dive.

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