Siemens restructuring
March 18, 2010
Munich-based electronics firm Siemens has announced it plans to change the structure of its company, and in doing so will cut 4,200 jobs worldwide.
Around 2,000 of the job losses will be in Germany. The company said it plans to achieve the cuts through voluntary departures as far as possible.
The restructuring plans focus on the Systems and Solutions (SIS) information technology sector of the company, which currently employs a global workforce of 35,000 people. Of these, 9,700 are based in Germany.
Siemens has announced it wants the SIS operation to be taken on by an independent company at the start of their fiscal year at the end of September.
"We want to ensure that SIS has a solid long-term basis," said SIS interim chief Christian Oecking.
SIS sales have fallen for several years and analysts say technical staff there are better paid than at rivals such as IBM, Hewlett Packard and Accenture.
Siemens has already spent around 500 million euros ($684 million) to restructure other divisions and has slashed 23,000 jobs. At the end of last year, its workforce totalled 405,000 worldwide.
cb/AP/dpa/AFP
Editor: Susan Houlton