Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises on Wednesday laid off 37 Barberton and two Copley employees as part of a larger reduction in force.

The layoffs — a total of 60 in the United States and Canada — were in the company’s former power segment now called Babcock & Wilcox Co.

The job cuts do not affect the company’s plans to move its corporate headquarters and operations from Barberton to Akron this year, a company spokesman said.

With these latest job losses, B&W Enterprises has about 650 employees in Barberton and Copley who are scheduled to move by the end of September into the East End Offices, the former Goodyear headquarters off East Market Street in Akron.

The job cuts that took place Wednesday were a necessary step to align B&W’s workforce with workload and to reduce business costs, company spokesman Ryan Cornell said. The people who have lost their jobs will get severance and outplacement services, he said.

B&W, which designs, makes and services coal-fired power plant boilers, pollution control equipment and more, has been struggling financially in recent years as utilities have shut down coal plants and switched to cheaper and cleaner-burning natural gas.

The company continues to reduce costs, improve cash flow and stabilize its finances, Cornell said.

The move to Akron, announced last September, is intended to save the company more money than if it remained at its aging five-building Barberton campus. B&W’s history in Barberton dates back to the early 1900s.

The company in November hired a new chief executive officer, Kenny Young, who replaced Leslie Kass, CEO for less than a year and who engineered the upcoming move to Akron.

Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ