Stanley Works Cuts 4,500 Jobs

Tool and hardware maker The Stanley Works announced Friday it will cut 4,500 jobs, or 24 percent of its worldwide work force to pay for development of new products and a new advertising push.

The company said the jobs would be eliminated over the next year. It did not give a breakdown of where the cuts would be made among its 19,000 employees worldwide, 12,000 of them in the United States. Factories and distribution centers are to be cut to 70 from 123.

“It is global and it is across product lines,” company spokesman Anthony Herrling said.

John M. Trani, who was hired as chief executive in January, has promised sweeping changes at the company, which was founded more than 150 years ago. He said he hoped to transform the tool company into the “Coca-Cola of the hardware industry.”