RACINE - Modine Manufacturing Co. will cut 20 jobs from its headquarters here, at least 15 of them management positions.

The company announced the cuts Wednesday morning and said they include about 15 percent of its management staff at its headquarters.

Modine said it will also eliminate post-retirement medical benefits for Medicare-eligible participants as of Jan. 1, a move the company estimates will save about $3.3 million annually.

Most of the job terminations are effective immediately, said Modine spokeswoman Susan Fisher. The exception is some long-tenured employees who elect early retirement - in those cases they will likely exit the company at the end of October.

After the cuts, Modine will have 619 people remaining here, Fisher said.

Modine said the cuts are part of a realignment of its North American organizational structure, designed to "attain a more competitive cost base and support future growth."

Modine Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Chief Financial Officer Bradley Richardson said the job reductions were a way to trim selling, general and administrative expenses to 11.5 percent of sales, a previously announced target.

There was a broad reorganization of job descriptions, he said.

"We looked at layers upon layers of the management structure to see where we could consolidate," he said.

With the reorganization, Richardson said, Modine now has three distinct headquarters within its Racine offices: one for commercial products; one for North American equipment manufacturing; and a corporate center that focuses on the overall picture, worldwide.

With a growth of exports, he said, only 35 percent of Modine's revenues are produced within North America. "The company had evolved globally, and we never (previously) looked back and looked at its management structure," Richardson said.

He said the job cuts were also made with an eye toward keeping the most productive employees, "to make sure we don't take people out of the organization that are making the company go on a day-to-day basis."

Fisher said all the affected employees will either take an early-retirement package or get severance benefits. The company is taking a $2.5 million charge to pay those costs.

Modine said the reduction of post-retirement medical benefits will not affect medical coverage or pension benefits for active Modine employees.

It also said retirees affected by the change in medical benefits will have access to the health and prescription drug programs offered by Medicare.

Modine, with fiscal 2008 restated revenues of $1.9 billion, specializes in heating and cooling systems and components.

The company employs approximately 7,900 people at 33 facilities worldwide in 15 countries. For more information about Modine, visit: http://www.modine.com