Otis Elevator to Cut Jobs in Restructuring

Otis Elevator Co. said it plans to cut about 1,100 jobs worldwide as part of a global restructuring to make the world’s largest elevator company more competitive and respond to Asia’s financial crisis. The job cuts follow the elimination of 900 positions late last year and earlier this year, for a total of more than 2,000 jobs, company spokesman Mark Granato said. Most of the planned job cuts this year will occur in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Otis, a unit of United Technologies Corp., had about 67,000 employees worldwide, including 7,500 in the United States at the end of 1997. The Farmington, Conn.-based company said it would immediately reduce the number of its worldwide engineering centers to six from 19. The company does business in more than 200 countries and its international operations accounted for about 83% of its $4.6 billion in revenue last year. United Technologies stock fell 50 cents to close at $95.81 on the New York Stock Exchange.