Des Plaines-based Littelfuse starts global restructuring

Littelfuse Inc., which has operations in Des Plaines, said late Tuesday that it will be restructuring its global operations now through late 2010.

The number of jobs impacted is not yet known, said Chief Financial Officer Phil Franklin.

"We're still in the early stages, but this is a global restructuring. Most of the cuts will be overseas," Franklin said in an interview.

The struggling company, which makes circuit protection devices, plans to transfer manufacturing from Duensen, Germany, to Mexico. Research and development, sales and other functions will remain in Germany.

It also plans to close a distribution center in the Netherlands and distribute products in Europe through another provider.

In addition, it will consolidate its Taiwan wafer fabrication facility, which was acquired as part of the Concord Semiconductor acquisition in 2006, and transferred to Wuxi, China.

There will be other streamlining as well, but Franklin could not elaborate.

In recent months, the company has been transitioning its longtime Des Plaines headquarters into a new office at the O'Hare Plaza in Chicago with about 300 workers. Only some engineers remain in Des Plaines.

Littelfuse has about 5,000 employees worldwide, with only about 10 percent remaining in the United States, he said.

The company expects restructuring charges of about $5 million to $8 million pretax over the next several quarters.

The annual savings from these cuts are expected to be around $7 million, the company said.