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GT Advanced to Eliminate 727 Jobs at Mesa, Arizona Plant

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Apr 12, 2001
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GT Advanced Technologies today notified City Council members in Mesa, Arizona that it plans to permanently eliminate 727 jobs at its sapphire plant. Layoffs will include 524 production workers, 108 technical positions, 70 management jobs, and 25 administrative jobs.

Affected employees were notified about their impending layoffs on Thursday. Layoffs will start on Tuesday and employees will be "separated from employment" beginning on December 15, according to a notice provided by Linda Luman, GT's vp of human resources.

gt_advanced_logo.jpg
News that GT would eliminate hundreds of positions first surfaced last week, after the company asked the court for permission to "wind down" operations at its Mesa, Arizona manufacturing plant. The facility, which was purchased and outfitted by Apple, has been operational for less than a year.

GT Advanced first filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, after Apple withheld a $139 million loan payment because the sapphire supplier failed to meet necessary technical milestones. According to court documents and securities filings, GT may have begun having issues with sapphire production as early as February.

Apple gave GT Advanced a $440 million loan for purchasing sapphire equipment, but according to information leaked during the GT's court proceedings, the sapphire company was unable to produce sapphire up to Apple's standards, leading Apple to stick with Gorilla Glass for the iPhone and the iPhone 6.

GT Advanced has plans to shut down its Mesa, Arizona plant, and it has also asked for court approval to void its contracts related to the operation, calling the terms of the contracts with Apple "oppressive and burdensome." The company will wind down operations over the course of the next few months, keeping on a small number of workers to monitor ongoing sapphire growth.

Once the current sapphire boules have been prepared for sale, employees will clean and decommission furnaces and then clean the plant itself, with a final closure coming on December 31. Apple has not commented publicly on the matter beyond its initial pledge promising to work to preserve jobs in the area.

Article Link: GT Advanced to Eliminate 727 Jobs at Mesa, Arizona Plant
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/16/gt-advanced-to-eliminate-727-jobs/
This whole thing stinks to high heaven. And what a loss for those people's jobs... Less than a year? What a drag
 
*******s..... Gotta be kidding me. How did they even score a job with apple? Was it sympathy?? Apple wanting create jobs in the US? This is terrible. 1000 jobs is a lot of folks. Especially if most are specialized into specifically work with the sapphire glass...
 
1. Court voids GT's contract with Apple
2. Samsung invests half a billion dollars in GT
3. Galaxy S6 with sapphire screen
 
MacRumors said:
GT Advanced has plans to shut down its Mesa, Arizona plant, and it has also asked for court approval to void its contracts related to the operation, calling the terms of the contracts with Apple "oppressive and burdensome."
Click to expand...

If this is true, why sign the contracts in the first place? You shouldn't get a free pass on financial obligations because you signed a contract you knew would lead to this...

I was surprised Apple didn't start buying up GT shares when then plummeted, but perhaps this would have been looked at unfavourably?
 
What a sleaze factory. Who would trust this firm and do business with them?

Reckless and ignorant mismanagement have now cost people their livelihood.
 
samh004 said:
I was surprised Apple didn't start buying up GT shares when then plummeted, but perhaps this would have been looked at unfavourably?
Click to expand...

Why would Apple want to buy a bankrupt company whose production process clearly didn't work? If there was real hope of fixing the technical issues, they wouldn't be shutting down the entire plant and planning to sell the equipment. They simply failed. It didn't work. I'm really astonished that Apple rushed into such a full-scale production agreement without more evidence that it would work correctly.
 
Apple please buy them

apple why not, plenty of money, saving jobs, lend a helping hand. its really a win win all the way around. thats alot of people to loose there jobs during the holidays
 
No job just before Christmas, I really do feel for the staff. I do wonder how many will quickly get good new jobs as so many people looking at the same time.
 
vmistery said:
No job just before Christmas, I really do feel for the staff. I do wonder how many will quickly get good new jobs as so many people looking at the same time.
Click to expand...

I know. This just seems like an absolute sh-t show. I guess the wisdom about diversification is worth something!
 
It's sad.

I hope the executives who bailed knowing this would happen and shoving their own employees into the pit hole be taken to court and sued.
 
The Sapphire dream is dead.

(Or at least, it is until Apple can find a new supplier)
 
Apple should ask the court for its factory back and be responsible for creating its own technology and not depend on incompetent third parties.
 
iCore24 said:
I wish Apple can buy them out. Fire the executives and get their own professionals to run it.
Click to expand...

The bankruptcy judge should show all the executives the door, starting with the ones who dumped a boatload of stock immediately before the bankruptcy filing.
 
iLoveiTunes said:
What a mess.... this should be thoroughly investigated by the regulators.
Click to expand...

Why, because their business failed?

----------
samh004 said:
If this is true, why sign the contracts in the first place? You shouldn't get a free pass on financial obligations because you signed a contract you knew would lead to this...

I was surprised Apple didn't start buying up GT shares when then plummeted, but perhaps this would have been looked at unfavourably?
Click to expand...

The contract with Apple would have grown the company by orders of magnitude. It was a huge opportunity. GT simply failed to perform. A bankrupt company will ask the court to be released from most if not all of their contractual obligations. It's now entirely up to the judge to determine the status of contracts.

Apple didn't buy up GT's shares because with the bankruptcy the shares became worthless. Apple has a much better shot at gaining control of whatever part of GT's assets they think has value through the bankruptcy process. They gain this ability by being a creditor, not by owning worthless stock.
 
These guys should take notes from the defense & finance industries.

When your business tanks out, pay yourself a huge bonus for your effort, default on all your debts, pay no fines, and let the gov bill the taxpayers for any costs.

Then go right ahead and start over again & do the exact same thing.
Don't forget to tip your congressman.
 
lzyprson said:
*******s..... Gotta be kidding me. How did they even score a job with apple? Was it sympathy?? Apple wanting create jobs in the US? This is terrible. 1000 jobs is a lot of folks. Especially if most are specialized into specifically work with the sapphire glass...
Click to expand...

Technarchy said:
What a sleaze factory. Who would trust this firm and do business with them?

Reckless and ignorant mismanagement have now cost people their livelihood.
Click to expand...

Short memories here. 18 months ago Intel had functioning Broadwell desktop CPUs and predicted volume production in 12 months (6 months ago) but volume production now looks to take 24 months (6 months from now.

GT Advanced also had functioning sapphire but was unable to scale in volume on schedule. Except in GT's case, being off by 3 months meant bankruptcy and in Intel's case being off by 12 months meant record profits.

Now looking at management selling shares like mad while pretending everything was fine even though internally they were missing deadlines, well that's criminal.
 
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