Swedish battery developer Northvolt has introduced plans to let go of round 1 / 4 of its workforce in Sweden, as introduced by the corporate this week in a bid to reply to a “difficult macroeconomic local weather.”
In a press launch shared on Monday, Northvolt introduced that it’s dealing with a redundancy of 1,600 positions on account of a revised scope of operations throughout its services in Sweden. As an alternative, the corporate is pivoting its focus towards ramping cell manufacturing at its first 16GWh manufacturing capability at Northvolt Ett.
Northvolt says its efforts to scale back operations and prices to sustainable ranges want to incorporate the discount of world workforce by roughly 20 p.c, together with a discount to whole workers in Sweden by about 25 p.c. The battery maker at present has between 6,000 and 6,500 whole workers.
The layoffs shall be comprised of round 1,000 roles at Skellefteå, 400 at Västerås, and 200 on the Stockholm website. Regardless of the choice, the discharge additionally notes that the redundancies are nonetheless topic to union negotiations, that are nonetheless ongoing.
Northvolt is right now asserting preliminary steps to be taken as a part of its strategic evaluate. In streamlining operations, Northvolt will initially concentrate on large-scale cell manufacturing while lowering prices and exploring future strategic partnerships → https://t.co/gym7OJVy6N pic.twitter.com/CW8z9XQRWE
— Northvolt (@northvolt) September 9, 2024
“Whereas total momentum for electrification stays sturdy, we have to be sure that we take the correct actions on the proper time in response to headwinds within the automotive market, and wider industrial local weather,” writes Northvolt Co-Founder and CEO Peter Carlsson. “We now have to focus all vitality and investments into our core enterprise. Success within the ramp-up of manufacturing at Northvolt Ett is vital for delivering to our prospects and enabling sustainable enterprise operations.”
Though the corporate had been engaged on increasing the Northvolt Ett plant so as to add a further 30 GWh of annual capability, it mentioned earlier this month that it might be suspending these plans in the interim. Plans to sluggish packages and additional growth plans in Västerås have additionally been placed on pause, although elementary platforms hosted on the Northvolt Labs website will proceed their concentrate on product improvement.
In Stockholm, a lot of the layoffs will apply to company assist capabilities, as a part of the bigger measures to scale back its scope of operations. Regardless of this, Northvolt is already in dialogue with union representatives on tips on how to proceed, and it’s already began mobilizing inner assets to assist assist the transition of affected workers.
“Our precedence is to supply as a lot assist as doable throughout this time to all our workers, particularly these impacted by redundancy,” mentioned Daniela Maniaci, Northvolt’s Chief Folks Officer. “In supporting workers who will depart the corporate, we’re dedicated to dealing with the method with compassion and care, and making certain everybody receives steerage wanted for his or her subsequent steps.”
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