Nokia to Close German Plant, Auto Unit
The three moves would reduce Nokia’s work force by 2,300 positions, or about 2 percent.The plant closing is part of its bid to shift manufacturing to cheaper, more competitive locations in Europe. Nokia, the No. 1 maker of cell phones worldwide, said the decision was based “on the lack of competitiveness of the location.”It added that investments to make the site in the western city of Bochum more competitive would not result in keeping it competitive.The planned closure of the Bochum production site is necessary to secure Nokia’s long-term competitiveness,” said Veli Sundbaeck, executive vice president of Nokia and the chairman of Nokia GmbH’s supervisory board.
“Due to market changes and increasing requirements for cost-effectiveness, production of mobile devices in Germany is no longer feasible for Nokia,” he said. “It cannot be operated in a way that meets the requirements for global cost efficiency and for flexible capacity growth. Therefore we have to make this tough decision.”
The cost of the closing on Nokia’s bottom line had not yet been determined.The company’s automotive unit makes devices used by drivers in their cars, such as earphones, hands-free speakers and microphones, rechargers and navigation systems.Nokia, which has increasingly concentrated on emerging markets, last month predicted that the highest growth in the global mobile market in 2008 _ of more than 15 percent _ will be in the Asia-Pacific region, China, the Middle East and Africa. The lowest growth _ of less than 10 percent _ will be in North America, Europe and Latin America, it said.Nokia has sales in 130 countries. It employs some 130,000 people worldwide.Nokia is due to announce its fourth quarter and 2007 earnings on Jan. 24.Shares of Nokia fell less than a percent to close at 23.56 euros ($34.99) in trading in Helsinki.
Source : http://www.umbrellanews.com
