Business
The Westaim Corporation announces operational and organizational changes
The Westaim Corporation announces operational and organizational changes.
About this update from Westaim Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nCALGARY, May 23 /CNW/ - The Westaim Corporation announced today that as\npart of its strategic review of all operations, it is implementing operational\nchanges at iFire Technology and an organizational change at The Westaim\nCorporation.\n\n\nThe Company will be reducing staffing levels at iFire Technology to a\ncore team of approximately 50 employees, who will focus primarily on phosphor\ndevelopment projects. These changes are expected to save more than $15 million\nin annual operating costs for iFire. One-time reorganization costs including\nseverance and transition costs are expected to be approximately $7 million.\n\n\n"Westaim's examination of iFire's operations determined that narrowing\nthe development focus to phosphor performance is the right approach to take at\nthis time," said Barry M. Heck, President & CEO, The Westaim Corporation. "We\nhave demonstrated scalability of the TDEL technology and the primary\noutstanding development issue is phosphor repeatability and manufacturability.\nOnce phosphor performance has been suitably improved it will be transferred\nonto demo panels. We remain confident that TDEL can be a significant flat\npanel display technology."\n\n\nThe company also announced that Barry M. Heck, President and CEO of\nWestaim, will resign his position as CEO and Director of Westaim to devote\nmore time to NUCRYST Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Heck's role at NUCRYST will change\nfrom non-executive Chairman to Executive Chairman. Drew Fitch, Westaim's\ncurrent Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will be appointed\nPresident and Chief Executive Officer of Westaim and will also be appointed to\nthe Board of Directors. Both changes are effective immediately.\n\n\n"Barry has done an excellent job of leading Westaim during his\nfour-and-a-half-year tenure as CEO," said Ian W. Delaney, Chairman, The\nWestaim Corporation. "NUCRYST is a valuable asset to Westaim and we do not\nintend to liquidate our holdings in order to provide cash for iFire. Barry is\nbeing tasked with building value in NUCRYST that will benefit both Westaim and\nNUCRYST shareholders. As the CFO of Westaim for more than 10 years, combined\nwith his business and corporate finance experience, Drew Fitch is the ideal\nperson to lead Westaim during this time of transition."\n\n\nOn April...