MAY 5--PPT VISION Inc. (Minneapolis, MN;www.pptvision.com) has completed a three-part corporate restructuring in an effort to bring the company's cost structure into closer alignment with current revenues. The first part of this plan involved the closing of the company's Michigan office. The functions of the Michigan office have been transferred to several of the company's system-integration partners.
The second part of the plan involved a restructuring of the company's lease obligation with respect to its headquarters facility in Eden Prairie, MN. Under the amended lease terms, the company will receive a reduction in its base rental rates and its facility will shrink from approximately 64,000 square feet to approximately 35,000 square feet, resulting in a savings of approximately $120,000 per quarter. In exchange for these amended lease terms, the company has agreed to pay $140,000 for certain leasehold improvements associated with the reconfigured space, pay a $240,000 lease termination fee in equal monthly installments over a 12-month period, and extend the current lease term by two years through May 2011.
The third part of the plan included certain other operating expense reductions which primarily consisted of an approximately 15% workforce reduction. When taken together, the three parts of this restructuring will result in a reduction of the company's total cost structure by more than $1,200,000 per year. As a result of these restructuring actions, the company expects to record a nonrecurring charge of approximately $400,000 in the second quarter, ended April 30, 2005.
PPT Vision designs, manufactures, and markets camera-based intelligent systems for automated inspection in manufacturing applications. The company's products enable manufacturers to realize significant economic paybacks by increasing the quality of manufactured parts and improving the productivity of manufacturing processes.