Siemens AG, one of Europe’s largest employers, announced it will cut 2,400 jobs in Germany during the next two years as the company sets in motion its Fit4More restructuring plan for sustainable, profitable growth.
The company said major changes will take place in three loss-generating groups.
Siemens said a combination of job “phase-outs” and $1.8 billion worth of cost cuts would take place during the next two years in Siemens Business Services, the company’s information technology services unit. Christoph Kollatz will take over as group president of SBS, while Michael Schulz-Drost will take over as chief financial officer.
Siemens said its Logistics and Assembly group will be dissolved Oct. 1, with its profit-generating businesses rolled into other Siemens units.
Com, the struggling telecom unit of Siemens, also could face a round of pink slips.
“We are on track with Fit4More,” said Klaus Kleinfeld, president and chief executive of Siemens. “We do what needs to be done to achieve our earnings targets. This will ensure that we remain a reliable and top-performing partner. Our customer offerings will thus be even more competitive, which is the basis for our company’s success and for the future security of jobs at Siemens. Only successful businesses can secure and create jobs.”
Siemens said restructuring costs will burden earnings in the current and next fiscal year.
In other Siemens news, the company announced last week that it plans to invest in metro-scale Wi-Fi mesh networks supplier Tropos Networks Inc. and said it plans to accelerate deployment of Tropos’ MetroMesh systems in markets around the world.
“Mesh techniques represent the next logical step in development of Wi-Fi radio networks, as can now be found in ever more offices, homes and public buildings. Here we see a lucrative market for service providers and mobile operators,” said Christoph Caselitz, president of Mobile Networks at Siemens.
Terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
