Nokia shuffles Finnish site operations, job cuts on deck

Nokia Corp. is scaling back operations by closing up shop in one location and cutting employees in another. The world’s largest handset vendor announced today that it would close its Jyvaskyla, Finland, site, and will now concentrate mobile device research and development at its Tampere, Oulu, Salo and Helsinki, Finland, locations. However, Salo is also the recipient of grim news: Nokia said it would begin staggered, temporary layoffs of the 2,500 employees within the production plant at the site.
Jyvaskyla’s doors will not close immediately. Nokia said it will gradually cease operations there with plans to shut it down by the end of the year, leaving 320 employees in the dark. Nokia said all affected employees will have the opportunity to apply for other Nokia positions as priority candidates.
“However, it is likely that this will mean redundancies as well, as we are not planning to increase the personnel in other sites as a result of this, and there are not that many open positions available in the company right now,” Nokia said in a statement.Jyvaskyla operations are mainly focused on mobile device product development and marketing, and also include marketing activities and global support functions.
The Salo cutbacks will happen on a rotational basis, Nokia said, with 20-30% of employees being temporarily laid off at a time. These layoffs will impact all personnel groups in Salo production, but would not interrupt operations.
“With these plans, we aim to scale down Salo production to reflect reduced market demand, while operations in the factory continue uninterrupted,” says Juha Putkiranta, SVP of demand supply network management at Nokia. “This is one of the measures we are taking to adjust our global demand supply network to the current situation.”
The manufacturer also said it plans to start consultations with employee representatives about cutting around 90 positions.
The news comes shortly after Nokia’s dismal fourth-quarter earnings. Nokia also said it expects a rough 2009, beginning with bleak first-quarter results.
Article updated Feb. 12 to include comments from Nokia.