Wärtsilä Lays Off 1.000 Workers

Finland’s Wärtsilä is letting a 1.000 employees go. The company said that the measure is necessary in order to secure future profitability and competitiveness.

The company-wide “efficiency programme”, how the company named it, is expected to lead to a reduction of approximately 1,000 workers, of which about 200 are planned to be in Finland.

“The reductions will impact all businesses and support functions,” the Finnish ship engine maker said.

With these operations Wärtsilä, which had 18,663 employees in nearly 70 countries globally at the end of 2013, said it would save EUR 60 million per year.

In a press release issued today, Wärtsilä explained that even with some signs of improvement in market conditions, the business environment remained challenging.

Overcapacity, volatility, uncertainty

“Vessel contracting activity is expected to remain at improved levels, but overcapacity and price pressure is still a concern. Uncertainties in the global economy have caused delays in power generation market activity. The service market development remains stable. The volatility in the market demand has increased and Wärtsilä is adapting its organisation to this reality. The synergies that were identified in the merger of the Ship Power and PowerTech organisations are also being implemented,” Wärtsilä said.

“In an environment of slow growth and intense competition, we must take steps to adjust our cost structure accordingly. Only by increasing the efficiency and flexibility of our organisation globally can we secure profitability and maintain competitiveness going forward. Unfortunately redundancies cannot be avoided,” said Björn Rosengren, President & CEO.

[mappress]

January 29, 2014