Tollgrade restructuring slices about 80 jobs

(Telephony) Tollgrade Communications, a maker of test products for telecommunications and cable systems, has eliminated about 80 jobs, reducing its total workforce to just under 300 employees.

The cuts came as Tollgrade announced first quarter net income of $5.75 million, or 43 cents a share, up from $5.23 million, or 39 cents a share, in the year previous. Sales for the quarter were $28 million, about 25% better than first quarter 2000.

The employee reductions are "really just some fat trimming," said Tollgrade CEO Chris Allison, who added that Tollgrade now has about as many employees as it had at the start of 2000.

Those who were brought on board during that economic boom time, though, are not necessarily the ones who are being trimmed now.

"There are some people who have been here a while and we brought in some really good people since 2000," Allison said.

More specifically, the company is focusing on its core telecommunications expertise, he added.

"We have a really big business where we go into an RBOC or a major ILEC and help improve all facets of their product testability," he said. "We have a very large professional services group that [consists of] all ex-Bell people who are subject matter experts in POTS testing."

Thus, he said, "We're making an investment in that area."

Other areas of the business are receiving less focus.

"We're not backing away, but we're probably not adding," he said. "We got rid of some technicians and some administrative people and are really focusing on the … service element of our business at it relates to POTS testing and DSL testing. You have some components of a business that run efficiently and other components that run inefficiently. The inefficient ones you want to fix and the way you fix it is by cutting back and regrouping and making them more efficient."