LOCAL P&G PLANT OK

The Procter & Gamble Company has announced details of its five-year, far-reaching, strategic plan to carry the company into its next phase of "Organization 2005."

During the process, which will increase long-term annual sales growth 6 to 8 percent, 15,000 jobs will be eliminated over the next six years -- about 13 percent of the work force -- and 10 plants may be closed.

"We see no immediate or planned impact on the Cape Girardeau County facility," said a company spokesman, following the early Wednesday announcement from P&G headquarters at Cincinnati.

Construction is continuing on a $350 million expansion project announced for Cape Girardeau County almost two years ago, added the spokesman.

The new building, an 850,000 square foot manufacturing facility to produce paper towels and tissue, is on schedule. P&G already has a giant facility (1,300,000 square feet under roof) for the manufacture of disposable diapers.

Procter & Gamble also has manufacturing facilities in Kansas City, Kan., and St. Louis, Mo.

The newest Procter & Gamble restructuring will get under way during the fiscal year that starts July 1, 1999.

The Organization 2004 program, say P&G officials, is designed to increase sales, get new products to market more quickly, cut costs and make the company more responsive to market changes.

It is the company's first major initiative since Durk Jager, a 29-year P&G veteran, became chief executive on Jan. 1.

"The cost of Organization 2005 -- about 1.9 billion -- is well justified by both the ongoing operational benefits of our new structure and substantial financial benefits will generate for our stockholders,' said Jager.

The program is anticipated to generate annual after-tax savings of approximately $900 million by fiscal 2004, Jager said.

Under the program, the company, which makes Crest toothpaste, Tide detergent and Pampers diapers among other products, will create seven global business units based on product lines.

P&G markets approximately 300 brands to almost 5 billion consumers in more than 140 countries. The company currently has operations in more than 70 countries and employs more than 110,000 people,

Currently, the company is organized with four segments based on geographic regions.

The specific plants and businesses to be affected will not be publicly identified until final decisions are made and employees have been notified, Jager said. More than 70 percent of the job cuts will be outside North America.

"Organization 2005 marks the most dramatic change to P&G's structure, work processes and culture in the company's history," Jager said.

P&G stock, which rallied late last week when reports of the reorganization appeared, retreated today after the announcement. At close on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, P&G was down $2.56 to $92.25 a share. It was among the most heavily traded stocks of the day.

The company said 10,000 of the job cuts probably would occur through fiscal 2001, which ends June 30, 2001. The rest will come in the following three years. Jager said some workers will be laid off, but P&G will try to make maximum use of retirements, relocations, voluntary departures and reductions in hiring.

Employees who are laid off will be offered financial assistance and job retraining, Jager said.

Management said 42 percent of the job cuts will occur in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 29 percent in North America, 16 percent in Latin America and 13 percent in Asia.

The last major restructuring was a 1993 reorganization that was designed to reduce expenses to 12 percent of sales. That program involved closing 30 plants and eliminating 13,000 positions throughout the world. Most of those job cuts came from early retirements, attrition and buyouts.