BlackBerry Ltd, maker of the Z10 and Q10 smartphones, informed 250 workers in a Waterloo, Ontario, product-testing facility that they would be fired.

The dismissals are part of BlackBerry’s turnaround plan to improve profits, Lisette Kwong, a company spokeswoman, said today in an e-mail. The department affected by the job cuts supports manufacturing, research and development, she said. BlackBerry has about 12,700 employees.

BlackBerry is scaling back after the touch-screen Z10, introduced in February, failed to become a hit with consumers.