Siemens to shed 7,000 jobs at industrial services unit
(yep, we are see improving market conditions all the time ...pb)
Siemens' industrial solutions and services unit will cut 7,000 jobs as part of an aggressive restructuring bid to stem losses it reported in the first half of the year.
The German industrial group, whose products include industrial goods and telecommunications equipment, said that structural changes and the current economic slowdown, had contributed to losses at the I&S unit.
The company said the job cuts at the unit, which constructs and services industrial systems and infrastructure, would target low-profit areas.
Siemens said about 5,000 jobs would be affected - most in Germany - and a further 2,000 would be shed through employee-oriented schemes, with the aim of saving €500m ($497m).
The company said: "To meet the changed demands of the market and improve our competitiveness, we have to transform ourselves from a supplier of electrical and electronic equipment for plants into a provider of solutions and services for industry and infrastructure".
In April, Siemens' blamed a steeper-than-anticipated downturn in the telecommunications equipment market for restructuring its struggling telecoms network subsidiary, ICNetwork. It said it would shed 6,500 jobs in the telecoms unit by the end of 2003 and generate a further E1.5bn in cost savings - on top of the 10,000 job cuts and E2bn of savings already announced by the group.
Shares were down 1.7 per cent to €69.5 in afternoon trade in Frankfurt.
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