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 answer a “difficult macroeconomic local weather.”
In a press launch shared on Monday, Northvolt introduced that it’s going through 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 cut back operations and prices to sustainable ranges want to incorporate the discount of worldwide workforce by roughly 20 p.c, together with a discount to complete employees in Sweden by about 25 p.c. The battery maker at the moment has between 6,000 and 6,500 complete staff.
The layoffs will probably be comprised of round 1,000 roles at Skellefteå, 400 at Västerås, and 200 on the Stockholm web site. 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 overview. 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 robust, we have to ensure 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 must focus all vitality and investments into our core enterprise. Success within the ramp-up of manufacturing at Northvolt Ett is crucial 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 an extra 30 GWh of annual capability, it stated earlier this month that it could be suspending these plans in the intervening time. Plans to gradual packages and additional growth plans in Västerås have additionally been placed on pause, although basic platforms hosted on the Northvolt Labs web site will proceed their concentrate on product improvement.
In Stockholm, a lot of the layoffs will apply to company assist features, as a part of the bigger measures to cut back its scope of operations. Regardless of this, Northvolt is already in dialogue with union representatives on the right way to proceed, and it’s already began mobilizing inner assets to assist assist the transition of affected staff.
“Our precedence is to supply as a lot assist as doable throughout this time to all our staff, particularly these impacted by redundancy,” stated Daniela Maniaci, Northvolt’s Chief Folks Officer. “In supporting staff who will go away the corporate, we’re dedicated to dealing with the method with compassion and care, and guaranteeing everybody receives steering wanted for his or her subsequent steps.”
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