Danish wind OEM Vestas has confirmed it plans to lay off some 350 workers at its blade factory in Lem, Denmark by year-end. The company blamed high manufacturing costs and salary levels, "compared to the market level within manufacturing" for the redundancies.
“Our flexible and scalable production setup is one of the primary elements in our current success, and it is a business strategy we will follow going forward. It’s never easy to say goodbye to good colleagues, but this is unfortunately a necessary step for Vestas to be highly competitive in a global market," said chief operating officer Jean-Marc Lechêne.
In line with the reduction in staff and production capacity at Lem, the factory will change its setup from the current four-shift 24/7 time-sheet to a three-shift 24/5 schedule from 01 January 2017.
The factory was put in the spotlight earlier this year after a report by Danish broadcaster DR News into health and safety issues at blade manufacturing plants in the Scandinavian country identified historic health and safety concerns at Lem along with other plants including Siemens' Aalborg facility.
