Nokia Siemens Networks to close Espoo factory and cut 560 jobs in Finland

Nokia to close Jyväskylä R&D; temporary lay-offs in prospect in Salo

print this

Nokia Siemens Networks are to cut 560 jobs in Finland this year. Most of the dismissals will take place in the capital area.
      From the Espoo factory, which is to be closed down in stages during the summer, 282 people will be made redundant from production and support services.
      According to Nokia Siemens Networks Chief Operating Officer Mika Vehviläinen, the production of microwave radio products will be moved from Espoo to the Chennai plant in India while the base station product manufacturing will continue at the Suzhou factory in China.
      “Moving the production to the Durach factory in Germany is only a temporary operative solution”, Vehviläinen continues.
     
Among workers at the plant, the moving of production to Durach has caused an outrage.
      The factory there was bought in November by several directors of Nokia Siemens Networks. The factory’s present owner SRI Radio System’s CEO is Martin Kampmann, whom many consider to be the principal architect of the closure of the Espoo factory.
      “This is false information. Kampmann was not present when the decision on closing the Espoo production facility was made. An audit was performed on the matter, which proved that everything was done correctly”, Vehviläinen notes.
     
The co-determination talks that started in November were completed on Tuesday.
      According to Vehviläinen, through internal arrangements the company was able to reduce the need for dismissals from the original figure of 750 employees.
      According to Vehviläinen the cost-efficiency savings related to the 2007 establishment of the joint venture between Nokia and Siemens have now been achieved.
      “Of the three largest players in the field, our cost structure is now the lowest. In this view we do not have to plan any further reductions in Finland”, Vehviläinen concludes.
     
     
Nokia closing Jyväskylä R&D unit; production to be scaled down in Salo
     
     
As this edition was being published, the world's largest mobile handset manufacturer Nokia also announced it was concentrating mobile devices product development in Finland in Tampere, Oulu, Salo, and in the Greater Helsinki area.
      The company is shutting down its Jyväskylä R&D facility, which presently employs 320.
     
Nokia further reported plans to scale down the production at its mobile phone plant in Salo to reflect the market demand. This will involve rotational temporary lay-offs of staff.
      The lay-offs will be staggered in such a way that between 20 and 30% of the 2,500 production employees will be off the job at any one time, without curtailing production. All personnel groups in Salo production operations will be affected.
      We will have further details tomorrow.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nokia Siemens Networks cutting 750 jobs in Espoo (12.11.2008)

Links:
  Nokia Siemens Networks
  Nokia press release 11.2.2009 - Jyväskylä, Salo

Helsingin Sanomat