Theo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.
This story was updated to include the number of employees laid off.
Vermont Information Processing, a beverage industry software firm based in Colchester, announced layoffs to employees Tuesday.
The cuts come less than two years after the previously employee-owned company was acquired by private equity firm Warburg Pincus for roughly $1 billion. Last month, Vermont Information Processing, or VIP, announced it had purchased the Colorado-based firm Encompass Technologies.
At the time, VIP said “AI will be a key part” of the company’s — and the industry’s — evolution.
The company also unveiled a new suite of artificial intelligence features for its customers this summer.
Internal communications to employees obtained Tuesday by VTDigger called the cuts a “permanent reduction in force” at the company’s Colchester facility. The Vermont site will remain open, the communications said, and “remaining staff” will not be impacted. The company also has a footprint outside the state, including in India.
The company is laying off 66 employees.
One primary reason for the layoffs, the internal documents said, was that certain technology has “reduced the manual workload required for specific functions in the company.”
The company is also implementing what a spokesperson called a “product-led” organizational model.
“Following a review of our organizational structure and business priorities to support this product-led transition, VIP made the difficult decision to reduce the size of certain teams,” the spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement to VTDigger Tuesday afternoon.
The Vermont Department of Labor said it was aware of the layoffs.
“The Department is always concerned to hear about layoffs, and our top priority is to support affected individuals,” said Rachel Dumeny, a spokesperson for the Labor Department.
Communications to employees referenced financial severance packages.
“We are grateful for the contributions of our impacted colleagues and are supporting them through this transition,” said the company’s statement Tuesday.
