Pfizer to close R&D Operations in A2 and Kazoo!

[tracer1138]

Pfizer has announced plans to shed 10,000 jobs around the world.

The company says thousands of jobs will be lost as it closes its research and development facilities in Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo.

But the company says it will continue to maintain manufacturing and animal-health operations in the Kalamazoo area.

Really I only see 2 postives here

1. Pfizer has faith in its manufacutring and animal-health operations (although if Michigan keeps it's anti-pharmaceutical policies there's no telling how long that will last).

2. They may finally tear down those overly massive downtown buildings (a little wastefull after they spent all of that money retofiting the ugly white ones and tearing down the awesome brick one by Albert Khan.

[RustTown]

Just read in the Detroit Free Press that Mayor Hannah McKinney said Kazoo dodged a bullet as compared to Ann Arbor that lost the near 2,000 jobs. She said despite this loss, Kazoo County will still be home to 4,100 Pfizer jobs, and still be the county's largest employer, so it looks like you guys made out relatively well all things considered.

Ann Arbor definitely has the workforce that could replace these jobs with other high-paying jobs, but 2,000 jobs to lose in quite a blow.

[mgman]

Just read in the Detroit Free Press that Mayor Hannah McKinney said Kazoo dodged a bullet as compared to Ann Arbor that lost the near 2,000 jobs. She said despite this loss, Kazoo County will still be home to 4,100 Pfizer jobs, and still be the county's largest employer, so it looks like you guys made out relatively well all things considered.

Ann Arbor definitely has the workforce that could replace these jobs with other high-paying jobs, but 2,000 jobs to lose in quite a blow.

[RustTown]

Well, in the short term, this is the good that can be pulled out of this horrible news.

[egrguy]

I wouldn't be able to rest easy if I were a Pfizer employee in Kzoo. Their outlook as mgman stated isn't the best, and grdadof3 has a good outline as well in the Ann Arbor forum regarding their current/future drugs on the market.

[RustTown]

It's not about resting easy that I'm getting at. It's about trying to take nuggets of temporary good news from a from a large-scale downsizing. I'm hardly trying to paint a rosey picture, and it's unfortunate if I came across that way. BTW, what does this mean for the downtown campus Pfizer was supposed to build? (I think it was Pfizer, anyway)

[tracer1138]

Are those 4100 jobs secure though. It does not seem like Pfizer has a rosy outlook ahead. Hopefully the restructuring works and everyone keeps their jobs. Great to see that Upjohn was bought up by such a great company.

[Kayak1]

I would say that the safest sector in Kalamazoo is the vet medican research that they do in Richland Township. They have built a few new buildings out there and from what I understand, that piece is doing well for Pfizer.

[egrguy]

It's not about resting easy that I'm getting at. It's about trying to take nuggets of temporary good news from a from a large-scale downsizing. I'm hardly trying to paint a rosey picture, and it's unfortunate if I came across that way. BTW, what does this mean for the downtown campus Pfizer was supposed to build? (I think it was Pfizer, anyway)

[joescia]

Pfizer has announced plans to shed 10,000 jobs around the world.

The company says thousands of jobs will be lost as it closes its research and development facilities in Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo.

But the company says it will continue to maintain manufacturing and animal-health operations in the Kalamazoo area.

Really I only see 2 postives here

1. Pfizer has faith in its manufacutring and animal-health operations (although if Michigan keeps it's anti-pharmaceutical policies there's no telling how long that will last).

2. They may finally tear down those overly massive downtown buildings (a little wastefull after they spent all of that money retofiting the ugly white ones and tearing down the awesome brick one by Albert Khan.

[joescia]

2. They may finally tear down those overly massive downtown buildings (a little wastefull after they spent all of that money retofiting the ugly white ones and tearing down the awesome brick one by Albert Khan.

[egrguy]

Scientific start-up firm is headed to downtown Kalamazoo

Good news for DT Kzoo, although not directly related to the Pfizer closings itself, however, this is a good sign of what some former Pfizer employees did to get a start up going and it appears its doing pretty well.

[MJLO]

It's frustrating to see Pfizer making cuts in Michigan. I miss the days of upjohn.

[egrguy]

Pfizer to move jobs to Kalamazoo

This is great news. At least this can counterbalance some of the other jobs that area leaving the area. However, they are consolidating their global efforts for animal medicine to Kzoo, so it appears that this will be a mainstay operation in Kalamazoo.