Seven months after its May acquisition of Runco and Vidikron, Planar executives are re-assigning more than two-thirds of employees at the former Runco/Vidikron headquarters in Union City, California. Approximately 50 of Runco’s 80 full-time Union City, California, staff have been offered roles in the company’s Beaverton, Oregon, headquarters, a new engineering design center in Union City, or other facilities around the world.
The motivation behind this restructuring, explained Planar System’ VP and general manager, Scott P. Hix, is the company’s desire to more rapidly achieve the benefits that both Runco and Planar envisioned and publicly discussed when its acquisition occurred. This integration of resources, Hix said, will create increased efficiencies in operations and logistics across all three of Planars Home Theater Business Units brands Runco, Vidikron and Planar.”
“Oftentimes, back-office changes like this take place without much fanfare after an acquisition,” Hix explained. “But we’re in a people business, and Runco is a family company. We’re very mindful of that and have been very aggressive with our relocation packages and job offers.”
Many Union City employees have been offered opportunities to relocate to Planars Beaverton, Oregon, headquarters. Likewise, many familiar faces, from the leadership team to field sales, engineering, service and marketingincluding Bob Hana, Rick Bergamaschi, and Greg Caveswill remain with the team. Sam Runco will remain active in an advisory role to the team, as well.
In addition, Planar Systems plans to open a new facility that will be the home to an engineering design center and other remaining functions at a nearby Union City location in February. Nearly 20 of the 50 current Runco employees who were asked to remain with the company, were offered roles in this new facility.
Hix noted that concurrent to Runco’s staffing transition, the company is further investing in technical support, sales operations functions, and marketing functions. “Our dealers and reps can expect to see new systems, better reporting, and a host of additional communications as a result of this consolidation of resources,” he said.
