Compaq cuts Houston jobs

Compaq let go close to 1,000
manufacturing employees in its hometown of Houston this week as part of the
company's plan to streamline operations by 17,000.

In June, Compaq said it would lay off 5,000 manufacturing employees and
17,000 in total.



Under the plan to streamline manufacturing, Compaq said it
would cut approximately 1,000 manufacturing jobs in its Houston facility,
600 in a Marlboro, Massachusetts, manufacturing facility it acquired from Digital, and 3,400 internationally,
according to the spokesman.

The cutbacks come as a result of the Digital acquisition, which greatly
increased Compaq's headcount, as well as Compaq's ongoing effort to
streamline its manufacturing operations. The employees affected come from
the direct manufacturing line operations in Houston, a spokesman said.

The Compaq spokesperson would not confirm an exact number of the
layoffs this week but said that it was larger than 500 and involved the
bulk of the positions to be reduced in Houston. A limited number of layoffs
had already occurred and only a small number in Houston have yet to be cut.

Although manufacturing employees so far have borne the brunt of Compaq's
cost cutting, other departments will face limited cutbacks, the
spokesperson said.