Triton Systems became the latest company to take a hit due to an uncertain economy, laying off 90 of its 340 employees on Sept. 28 

""Friday was not a great day for us," said Ernest Burdette, the Long Beach, Miss.-based manufacturer's chief executive officer.

Nearly every department was affected by the sweeping job cuts, Burdette said, from production to management. While a small number of those dismissed were temporary staff, the majority were permanent employees. The executive management team remains in place.

About a month ago, Triton reported record sales for the first half of 2001, up 21 percent from the same period last year. According to the Nilson Report, Triton sold 13,557 ATMs worldwide in 2000, a 17 percent increase over 1999.

But the second-quarter 2001 financial report for Dover Industries, Triton's owner, offered a clue to the layoffs. "Triton's earnings comparisons to the prior year were very unfavorable, and it is focused on several product, marketing and manufacturing improvements," according to the Dover report.

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Burdette confirmed that Triton's revenues have not kept pace with its expenses. In the past year, Triton has invested a considerable sum of money to develop and market several new products: the 9700, which is similar to the company's flagship 9600 but with a curvy, dark blue cabinet; the 9800, Triton's first PC-based machine; and a full-motion video topper.

"Hopefully (the job cuts) will help us turn things back in the other direction, and put us on track to grow our profits along with our revenue," Burdette said.

Burdette said that the 9700 and 9800, which were both well received at the recent ATMIA Europe show in London and are being introduced in the U.S. at this week's Thomson Annual ATM Conference in New Orleans, likely won't be affected by Triton's belt tightening. However, the fate of the topper may be somewhat less certain.

Triton recently wrapped up a six-month pilot of the toppers with three of its distributors, Access Cash, Cash Resources and Hanco Systems. Noting that advertising budgets have taken a hit in recent months due to the slowing economy, Burdette said, "This may not be the best time in history to be launching a new advertising medium."

He added, "We're going to take another look at it. We're not planning to put it on ice, but we may back up and redirect our approach."

According to several of its distributors, Triton likely experienced a drop in profit margins when it offered steep discounts on some of its machines over the summer in an effort to increase sales. "They were selling 9600s for Mako prices," said the vice president of sales and marketing for one of the ISOs, who asked that his name not be used.

Triton also may have lost some business to other manufacturers. E*TRADE ATM, which has traditionally purchased mostly Tritons for its network, selected machines produced by Wincor-Nixdorf for its deal to install 1,000 ATMs over the next two years in Target stores.

This is only the second major staff reduction in Triton's 22-year history, Burdette said. The first came almost exactly 10 years ago, in 1991. Triton's mainstay product at the time was an ATM demonstrator it sold to financial institutions.

"We had to lay off a similar percentage of staff back then, and that started our upward growth curve that has carried through to the present," Burdette said.

Being a part of Dover Industries is "a positive thing" in an unfriendly economy, Burdette said.

"Dover management has seen a lot of cycles in the economy, and they can draw on the experience of having gone through this a few times," he said. "They will weather the current economic cycle as they have in the past, and they'll help their operating companies to do the same."

No further job cuts are expected, Burdette said. "We tried to encompass everything we could in this transition. We didn't want to have to come back and do it again next month."