NEW YORK - JAPAN'S Sony Corp is to close a television manufacturing plant in the US state of Pennsylvania as part of the vast overhaul of its business announced on Tuesday, its US subsidiary said.

'The company will be discontinuing all of its operations at the Westmoreland County facility over the next 16 months, beginning with television manufacturing by the end of February 2009,' Sony Electronics said.

In a statement, Sony Electronics said the plant, opened in 1990, has some 560 employees making flat-panel liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions and providing repair service and logistics.

The company said repair and logistics operations at the Westmoreland facility, which is located east of Pittsburgh, will end by March 2010.

Sony said its remaining North American television manufacturing centers in Baja, Mexico, 'will be able to handle anticipated market demand in the region for the foreseeable future.'

The announcement of the closure of the US plant came several hours after Sony announced in Japan that it was closing 10 per cent of its 57 manufacturing site and cutting more than 8,000 jobs because of the global economic downturn.

'The current economic climate was a key factor that led us to make the strategic business decision to streamline our manufacturing operations not only in the US but worldwide,' said Stan Glasgow, president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics. -- AFP