Wind turbine manufacturing giant Siemens Gamesa announced almost 3,000 job cuts as part of moves to turnaround the loss-making group.
Europe will bear the brunt of the roughly 2,900 reductions, with Siemens Gamesa highlighting Denmark with 800 posts impacted, Germany 300, Spain 475 and the UK with 50. The company said cuts will also be announced elsewhere in its global operations.
Siemens Gamesa – which currently employs 27,000 people worldwide – has been conducting a strategy review called Mistral announced last year to recast the company as a leaner operation in the face of losses and ongoing problems at its troubled onshore wind operation.
In its statement announcing the latest job reductions the company stated that “in order to realise the company's projections for growth, Siemens Gamesa is working to strengthen specific areas within key leading markets to capitalise on its strong market position in offshore, as well as growing across the entire value chain and driving a project-centric business approach”.
CEO Jochen Eickholt said: “It is never easy to make such a decision, but now is the time to take decisive and necessary actions to turn the company around and ensure a sustainable future. We need to build a stronger and more competitive Siemens Gamesa to secure our position as a key player in the green energy transition.”
Siemens Gamesa will now start negotiations with employee representatives, put its new operating model and structure in place from 1 January next year, and expects to conclude the reductions by 2025.
Siemens Gamesa is not alone in facing financial pressures, with all the major western wind turbine OEMs plunging into the red over the last 18 months.
However, the troubles at the onshore unit, which has seen high-profile product introduction and project execution challenges, have put the Spanish-German OEM under particular pressure, with majority owner Siemens Energy last year launching a long-expected bid to take full control of the business.
