Harman Professional Solutions, the iconic manufacturer of professional audio, video, lighting and control systems, is now restructuring and consolidating after its purchase by Samsung in 2016. This will result in office closures and the layoff of approximately 650 employees.
Of course, David Glaubke, Harman’s Director of Public Relations, has put forth the happy management-speak spin.
- “Still, I want to emphasize that decisions like this, while necessary, are not easy to make. We have given our employees advance notification of the changes we will make over the next year to assist with the transition and will do our best to mitigate the impact to our employees and their families.”
- “The changes we announced yesterday are the culmination of a transformation that the Professional Solutions division has been undergoing for the last two years to better serve our customers, increase our competitiveness and accelerate new product innovations.”
- “We are now consolidating certain locations acquired through acquisitions over the years to leverage the R&D, engineering, design and manufacturing operations of our other divisions and speed up our time to market.”
- “We also are investing in a stronger IT infrastructure, supply chain and software-driven NPIs [new product introductions] that will improve high-demand product availability and processes and resources for our customers, sales teams and distributors.”
- “Importantly, we also will ensure that the process is completely seamless for our customers. We are very excited about the future of Harman Professional Solutions and believe that, with these changes, we are now aligned and structured to serve our customers better and to return to stronger profitable growth.”
The original company was co-founded by two engineers, Sidney Harman and Bernie Kardon where Bernie was coincidently Sidney’s boss at his first job at the David Bogen Company. Another reason you may wish to treat your boss and co-workers with the utmost respect. Throughout his life, Harman was known for fostering a familial company culture. A lifelong supporter of charitable causes, Sidney was active in the management of the company’s affairs until he retired in 2006 at the age of 88. He passed away in 2011 at the age of 92.