Agfa to cut European payrolls
Agfa-Gevaert's ongoing effort to improve its profitability tookanother turn last month. The film and PACS vendor announced thatit plans to cut 550 jobs in Europe, primarily through the consolidationof its headquarters staff, which is split between
Agfa-Gevaert's ongoing effort to improve its profitability tookanother turn last month. The film and PACS vendor announced thatit plans to cut 550 jobs in Europe, primarily through the consolidationof its headquarters staff, which is split between Belgium andGermany.
Agfa's parent, German pharmaceutical giant Bayer, has crackedthe whip over Agfa for the past several years, trying to improvethe unit's profitability (SCAN 9/11/96). Agfa has cut personneland consolidated many of the company's operations in response.
In last month's announcement, Agfa said it would move centraland administrative functions now taking place in Leverkusen, Germany,to Mortsel, Belgium, where most of Agfa is headquartered, accordingto Dionn Tron, vice president of corporate communications. Agfa'sPhoto Imaging business group will remain in Leverkusen, whereit has manufacturing facilities, Tron said. The move is expectedto result in about 550 job cuts in Germany by 1997.
Agfa's U.S. subsidiary in Ridgefield Park, NJ, will not beaffected by the cuts, according to Tron. The unit began its cost-cuttingefforts several years before the Europeans.
"We've been doing this for a while and we are at the optimallevel in the U.S.," she said. "We've reduced our staff38% over the past five years."
There are signs that Agfa's cost-cutting is having the desiredimpact. Agfa's year-to-date worldwide profit margin is at 4.3%,up from 3% last year, according to Tron.
Can Photon-Counting CT be an Alternative to MRI for Assessing Liver Fat Fraction?
March 21st 2025Photon-counting CT fat fraction evaluation offered a maximum sensitivity of 81 percent for detecting steatosis and had a 91 percent ICC agreement with MRI proton density fat fraction assessment, according to new prospective research.
The Reading Room Podcast: Current Perspectives on the Updated Appropriate Use Criteria for Brain PET
March 18th 2025In a new podcast, Satoshi Minoshima, M.D., Ph.D., and James Williams, Ph.D., share their insights on the recently updated appropriate use criteria for amyloid PET and tau PET in patients with mild cognitive impairment.
Strategies to Reduce Disparities in Interventional Radiology Care
March 19th 2025In order to help address the geographic, racial, and socioeconomic barriers that limit patient access to interventional radiology (IR) care, these authors recommend a variety of measures ranging from increased patient and physician awareness of IR to mobile IR clinics and improved understanding of social determinants of health.
AI-Initiated Recalls After Screening Mammography Demonstrate Higher PPV for Breast Cancer
March 18th 2025While recalls initiated by one of two reviewing radiologists after screening mammography were nearly 10 percent higher than recalls initiated by an AI software, the AI-initiated recalls had an 85 percent higher positive predictive value for breast cancer, according to a new study.
