P&G PLANS MORE CUTS; NONE HERE

No Cape Girardeau plant workers will be dismissed as part of Procter & Gamble Co.'s plan to eliminate 9,600 more jobs, Mike Jennewein, human-relations manager of the local plant, said Thursday.

About 40 percent of the layoffs, or more than 3,800 of the jobs, will be in the United States, the company said. Outside the United States, management is still organizing the plan country by country.

The Cape Girardeau plant, which recently opened towel and tissue lines to go along with disposable-diapers lines, employs about 1,700 workers.

Some day fewer workers may be needed at the Cape Girardeau plant, said Jennewein. "But hopefully it will be through attrition," he said.

Overall, 24,600 job cuts have been announced over the past two years by P&G, once regarded by workers as a job-for-life employer.

The new cuts represent about 9 percent of the work force of 110,000 for the maker of Crest toothpaste, Pampers diapers and Tide detergent.

One-third of the job cuts companywide will come from manufacturing, and those reductions are expected to include plant closings and consolidations.

Better value' needed

Chief Executive A.G. Lafley said he witnessed the market competition problem a few weeks ago when he accompanied a mother of three as she shopped for groceries in the San Jose, Calif., area. She spent about $100 and filled her cart with mostly store-label products and just a few brand-name products -- but no P&G items.

"I didn't have a very good night," Lafley said, recalling that experience. "We've got to deliver consumers a better value. Consumers are our boss."

In 1999, P&G announced its Organization 2005 plan to cut 15,000 jobs and close 10 plants to reduce bureaucracy and get products to market faster. Of that number, 7,800 jobs still need to be cut because not enough workers have left voluntarily.

Stepping up product innovation will help P&G go on the offense, rather than simply trying to match competitors' efficiency in cutting operating costs, Lafley said Thursday.

Cincinnati-based P&G expects the job-cutting program to cost $1.4 billion after taxes. Savings from the reduction should total at least $600 million a year after taxes by fiscal 2003-04, management said.

Stock shares fall

In afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, P&G shares were down 2.3 percent, or $1.45 a share, at $61.75.

The 164-year-old company said it continues to review operations with the goal of more tightly focusing on core businesses. No conclusions have been reached, but decisions are expected by the end of the current fiscal year.

P&G needed further cuts of its overhead and manufacturing expenses to be competitive, chief financial officer Clayton Daley said. P&G's overhead costs in research and development and in manufacturing are 20 percent higher than those of its best competitors, Lafley said.

Sales volume and sales growth results are expected to be flat this year from last year's totals, Lafley said. Lafley has told top managers to fix the problems of financially underperforming businesses or to get P&G out of those businesses within a year.

Southeast Missourian staff writer B. Ray Owen contributed to this report.