Nokia slashes 2,300 jobs, closes German factory

Finnish handset vendor Nokia said Tuesday that it will discontinue the production of mobile devices in Germany and close its Bochum site by mid-year.

The closure of the facility will see jobs cuts by approximately 2,300, as the company moves manufacturing operations to cheaper European sites.

Nokia will also cease other non-production activities at the Bochum site and will sell its line fit automotive business and software R&D centre as a result.

The Finnish company revealed it is in negotiations with Sasken Technologies to sell the R&D unit.

The company said the German site has become too expensive to run – a situation that could not be rectified with additional investments.

“The planned closure of the Bochum production site is necessary to secure Nokia’s long-term competitiveness,” said Veli Sundback, executive VP of Nokia. “Due to market changes and increasing requirements for cost-effectiveness, production of mobile devices in Germany is no longer feasible for Nokia. It cannot be operated in a way that meets the requirements for global cost efficiency and for flexible capacity growth. Therefore we have to make this tough decision.”