IRVINE, CA -- One week after it announced the resignation of its president, Star Trac continued to change the structure of its company.
Star Trac, based out of Irvine, CA, laid off about 100 employees on Thursday, 50 of whom were office staff and managers and the other 50 were from the company’s strength factory, according to Randy Bergstedt, Star Trac’s vice president of marketing. One of the employees let go was Paul Ireland, vice president of sales, who had been with the company for more than 15 years.
“The goal of the staff reduction [Thursday] really is just to get the company more efficient,” Bergstedt told Club Industry. “There were some high-profile individuals like Paul Ireland that had been with the organization a long time. It’s painful for everybody, but we’re really trying to create efficiency in the company, really refine what we do as an organization and really streamline the operation.”
Regarding the downsizing in manufacturing, Bergstedt says the slow summer season and the consolidation of the strength factory into a new larger facility in Orange County, CA, led to the reduction.
“We still have over 450 employees,” Bergstedt says. “The business is still being conducted. There’s been no impact on day-to-day operations in terms of being able to conduct business.”
Bergstedt also says that Star Trac is entertaining investors and that the company is optimistic about having a strong third and fourth quarter.
“We’re in the process of raising growth capital from the marketplace, and we have some investors involved here,” Bergstedt says.
Last week, Star Trac announced the resignation of Steve Nero as president and chief operating officer. He was replaced in those roles by Mike Leveque, who had been the company’s managing director for Europe and Africa. Leveque has been based out of the Irvine corporate headquarters the last two years, Bergstedt says.
Star Trac does not plan to do any more staff reductions, particularly at the senior staff level of the company, according to Bergstedt.