OCZ Slashes Work Force; Not Ready To File 10-Q Yet

The troubled solid-state drive company OCZ Technology Group this afternoon disclosed that it has sharply reduced its staff as it works to refocus the company.

OCZ said non-production staff has been cut 28%, while the workforce at OCZ’s Taiwan production facility has been reduced by 32%.

“We are undergoing a transition phase in the Company’s evolution in which we are refocusing our efforts on products and strategies that will benefit both OCZ and our stakeholders over the long term,” CEO Ralph Schmitt said in a statement.”We have already taken aggressive steps to address some short-term tactical challenges and have begun streamlining the organization to help ensure that OCZ will be in the best position moving forward to address the fast growing consumer and enterprise SSD markets.”

The company said it plans to discontinue about 150 product variations, reducing the number of “value category” products by 50%.

“This streamlines OCZ’s product offerings to address the mainstream and higher-end consumer products, as well as enterprise and OEM solutions,” OCZ said. “The company has also evaluated its inventory and is in the process of making the necessary adjustments, including monetizing some inventory to better align its product offerings and to free-up cash for the business.”

OCZ added that it “is working diligently and is making progress” on an investigation into financial reporting issues that has prevented the company from filing its August Q2 10-Q with the SEC.

“Closure on these items has taken longer than originally expected,” OCZ said. “Further details will be released when the Form 10-Q is filed. ”

OCZ in late trading is down 9 cents, or 6.7%, to $1.26.