Auto supplier Visteon Corp. laid off 80 salaried employees in late January to cut costs. Most of those cut were quality engineers and managers, according to a person familiar with the company who didn't want to be named.
Dearborn-based Visteon confirmed the layoffs but wouldn't say in which areas the employees worked. ``It's a reflection of the ongoing evaluation we're doing to see what size workforce we need,'' said spokesman Greg Gardner.
The source said that Visteon plans to push more quality and warranty work onto design engineers, and that vice presidents are under pressure to meet first-quarter financial targets.
``It's been made clear to everyone that the numbers we talked about for the first quarter are real targets,'' Gardner said.
Visteon reported a loss of $1.2 billion on sales of $17.7 billion in 2003. The company said it projects a profit in the first quarter and for the year.
