Beckman Plans to Lay Off 91 in Fullerton, Brea

Beckman Instruments Inc. said Friday that it will lay off 91 Orange County employees in anticipation of reductions in federal spending for health care and related research.

Of the workers to be dropped from Beckman’s payroll over the next three weeks, 38 are employed at the company’s Brea-based Diagnostic Systems group and 53 are employed at its Fullerton headquarters, a company spokeswoman said.

“We anticipate that tighter government spending will affect us, and we are trying to look ahead of 1986,” the spokeswoman said. “We are trying to take measures early.”

In 1982, Beckman merged with Philadelphia-based SmithKline Corp. to form SmithKline Beckman Corp. Since the $1-billion merger, Beckman’s Orange County work force has shrunk from 5,000 to about 2,500. Layoffs have eliminated about 500 of those jobs with normal attrition trimming the rest of the payroll, the spokeswoman said.

Victims of the latest round of layoffs will receive assistance in finding new jobs, either with SmithKline Beckman or with other companies, the spokeswoman said. Should the eliminated jobs become available again, the laid-off workers may be recalled, she added.

In addition to the layoffs, Beckman, which specializes in medical instruments, plans to trim inventory levels, said company President Louis T. Rosso in a prepared statement.