Kimberly-Clark to Cut Work Force by 6,000 : Layoffs: The firm will sell up to 12 plants to trim costs after its $9.4-billion purchase of Scott Paper.

DALLAS — Kimberly-Clark Corp., the maker of Kleenex tissue and Huggies diapers, said Wednesday that it will eliminate 6,000 jobs by the end of this year and sell up to 12 plants to cut costs after its $9.4-billion purchase of Scott Paper Co.

The cuts include the immediate layoffs of 2,700 sales and administrative employees and will result in a 10% reduction of the combined companies’ worldwide work force, said Wayne R. Sanders, the chairman and chief executive of Kimberly-Clark. Notices began going out as Sanders addressed securities analysts in New York.

Sanders said that the Irving, Texas-based paper products company hopes to keep about 3,300 of the affected workers employed through the sale of their plants, rather than plant closings.

An additional 2,000 employees will be trimmed by 1997, partly as a result of divestitures required by federal antitrust regulators.

“Said differently, our total work force will have gone from 60,000 at the time of the merger announcement to 52,000 at the end of 1997,” Sanders said.

Wall Street cheered the plans, sending Kimberly-Clark up 1.8% on the New York Stock Exchange, where shares closed Wednesday at $79.875, a gain of $1.375 from Tuesday’s close. Kimberly-Clark stock now has climbed 35% since July, when the deal was announced.

The consolidation moves, Sanders said, will help Kimberly-Clark save about $1.2 billion over the next three years.