On September 1, Finnish industrial group Konecranes announced that it has taken various steps in 2009 to adjust its capacity and costs globally, due to the weak demand for maintenance service and lifting equipment.
Since orders received in the first half of 2009 by Konecranes were 41 percent lower than in the same period of 2008, Konecranes said that it would start statutory negotiations regarding possible temporary and permanent layoffs within Konecranes Plc and Konecranes Finance Corporation, both based in Hyvinkää and which function as headquarters. It is estimated that the possible permanent personnel reductions will affect at most 10-15 employees in Finland, while the statutory negotiations now initiated target all personnel in the country, i.e. a total of 189 persons. In addition to possible temporary and permanent layoffs, Konecranes stated that it was taking additional actions to save costs, including reducing the purchasing of external services and products.
In its written statement, Konecranes said, "The aim of the measures is to further adjust the companies' cost structures and resources to correspond with the current, weak market situation and to secure future competitiveness."
In the second quarter of 2009, Konecranes reported a reduction in its global workforce of 850 persons from year-end 2008. The company also estimated that the number of employees will further decrease by 750 persons during the latter part of 2009. The statutory negotiations at headquarters are part of this decrease.