Business Services Division
to
Reduce Cost/Improve Efficiency
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
For Immediate Release
BETHLEHEM, Pa., June 5, 2000 - To reduce costs while improving the delivery of business services throughout the company, Bethlehem Steel Corporation has formed a business services division that will be located at the steelmaker's corporate headquarters in Bethlehem, Pa.
The new division will be a customer-driven support services organization that will eliminate redundant services and provide cost-effective solutions for core business needs. Business services will support Bethlehem's core steelmaking and steel processing business units and its corporate center, which is focused on planning, strategic and corporate governance matters.
Work activities in the business services division include certain transactional and technical services from accounting, human resources, law and public affairs, among others, that are utilized by the business units and the corporate center. Other work activities will be included in the business services division as appropriate.
Duane R. Dunham, Bethlehem's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said:
"We have made considerable progress in recasting our company over the last few years. However, we recognize that much more needs to be done, and a significant step in the right direction is simplifying our organization and streamlining our services delivery process. In view of the competitive environment in which we operate, we are intensifying our cost-reduction efforts so that we can derive the greatest value for our stockholders and create greater opportunities for Bethlehem in the marketplace. The business services division will help do that."
The formation of the business services division is consistent with the corporation's efforts to reduce its salaried workforce by at least 15 percent by January 31, 2001.
Leading the business services division is Edmund P. Reybitz who was appointed vice president, business services division, effective June 1, 2000. Mr. Reybitz is advancing from the position of controller, Bethlehem Lukens Plate, a division of Bethlehem Steel with headquarters in Coatesville, Pa. In his new position, he will report to Dr. Augustine E. Moffitt Jr., executive vice president and chief administrative officer.
A native of Bethlehem, Mr. Reybitz graduated from the University of Scranton in 1977 with a bachelor of science degree in accounting and received his master of business administration degree from Wilkes University in 1990.
He joined Bethlehem Steel in 1977 as a member of the Loop Course management training program and advanced through various accounting responsibilities at company facilities in Lebanon, Pa.; Birmingham, Ala.; Lackawanna, N.Y., and Bethlehem. He was promoted to manager of the treasury division, finance, in 1993 and to assistant treasurer in 1997. With the formation of Bethlehem Lukens Plate in 1998, Mr. Reybitz was named controller for that Bethlehem business division.
Professionally, Mr. Reybitz is a member of the Financial Executives Institute and a member of the American Iron and Steel Institute.
Recently, Mr. Reybitz was the coordinator of Bethlehem Lukens Plate's employee campaign to benefit the United Way of Chester County He and his wife, Lauren, are the parents of three children and live in Downingtown, Pa.