Nokia has announced that it plans to cut another 4,400 jobs at its manufacturing plants by the end of the year.
This is a restructuring move that affects employees in Hungary, Mexico, and the company’s home base in Finland. Nokia plans to move its manufacturing facilities to Asia to cut costs and increase efficiency.
“By working more closely with our suppliers, we believe that we will be able to introduce innovations into the market more quickly and ultimately be more competitive,” said Nokia executive VP Niklas Savander.
Of the 4,400 layoffs, the majority (2,300) will come from Hungary, between 1000 to 1700 will come from Finland and the rest from Mexico.
Nokia’s workforce has become a fraction of what it once was. The company has axed as many as 10,000 jobs since last year.
“It’s really about speed, responsiveness and improving our time to market. It’s important to ensure that software customization happens close to the customers, certainly in Europe and Eurasia, which is the focus of Salo and Komarom,” a Nokia spokesperson was quoted as saying in a Wall Street Journal article.
Unlike many stories of widespread company layoffs, this one actually comes with a positive prognosis, as Nokia is beginning to turn the table and become a viable player once again. It’s just taking a while as the company shifts its focus to Windows Phone, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
