Rayovac to move headquarters to Atlanta, close Conn. operations

<p>Rayovac Inc., the worlds third-largest battery maker, will move its global headquarters from here to Atlanta and close the Connecticut operation it acquired last year when it bought Remington Products, company officials said Tuesday.</p><p>Rayovac also will integrate all its Remington operations into its North American headquarters in Madison and a manufacturing plant north of the city.</p><p>Rayovac spokesman John Daggett said the Atlanta move would put executives closer to global customers and regional headquarters locations. Atlanta offers faster travel to Europe, he said.</p><p>Its part of the evolution of the company, Daggett said. Were no longer just a small North American battery and flashlight company. Unfortunately, we all know this (Madison) is not the center of the business and global community.</p><p>The overhaul will mean the elimination of the Remington operation in Bridgeport, Conn., by years end, with 217 employees laid off there. The first cuts are expected in April, Daggett said.</p><p>Twenty-five executives will relocate to Atlanta, while 100 new professional and administrative positions will move to Madison from the Connecticut operation. Another 30 manufacturing jobs will be added to the companys Portage plant.</p><p>The Madison operation also will get a product research and development team, Daggett said.</p><p>Melanie Conklin, a spokeswoman for Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewciz, said the mayor still wants to talk to Rayovac executives to learn more details, but likes the idea of adding high-end research jobs to the city.</p><p>But Jim Pugh, a spokesman for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the states largest business association, called the global headquarters move a serious loss. The city loses the executives high salaries and their spending on things like United Way and the opera, he said.</p><p>When those jobs go to Atlanta, those wages go to Atlanta and those philanthropic activities go to Atlanta, Pugh said.</p><p>The company said in a statement the moves are designed to integrate the Remington operation Rayovac purchased in September. Daggett said plans for the changes had been in the works for about four months.</p><p>Loretta Lepore, a spokeswoman for Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, said the state had been in talks with the company for some time. But it was Rayovac that initially contacted Georgia officials about the move.</p><p>Rayovac employs 3,300 people worldwide and has been publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 1997. With acquisitions of battery companies in recent years, Rayovacs products include battery and lighting devices, including a rechargeable brand of battery and hearing aid batteries. The company also makes Remington electric razors.</p><p>Rayovac was founded in 1906 as the French Battery Company in Madison. It was renamed Rayovac in the mid 1930s.</p><p>The announcement was the latest step in a string of changes for the company. In 2002, it announced plans to cut 630 jobs worldwide by closing three plants and building a new $20 million facility in Illinois as part of a restructuring plan.</p><p>The move eliminated 280 jobs last year at a Madison packaging center and a Middleton distribution center. The operations will be combined into a 560,000-square-foot facility in Dixon, Ill., that will open in April and serve most of Rayovacs U.S. customers.</p><p>Shares of Rayovac were up 3 cents, or 0.1 percent, at $23.20 at the close of trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.</p><p>Daggett said workers who lose their jobs would be offered severance packages. The company also plans to create an outplacement team to help workers polish resumes and fill out unemployment benefit forms.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2865288)</p>

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