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 attributable to 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 likely 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 at the moment asserting preliminary steps to be taken as a part of its strategic overview. In streamlining operations, Northvolt will initially deal with 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 general momentum for electrification stays robust, we have to be sure that we take the fitting 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 power and investments into our core enterprise. Success within the ramp-up of manufacturing at Northvolt Ett is important for delivering to our clients 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 will be suspending these plans in the interim. Plans to sluggish applications 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 deal with product improvement.
In Stockholm, many of the layoffs will apply to company assist capabilities, 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 how you can proceed, and it’s already began mobilizing inside assets to assist assist the transition of affected staff.
“Our precedence is to supply as a lot assist as potential throughout this time to all our staff, particularly these impacted by redundancy,” mentioned Daniela Maniaci, Northvolt’s Chief Individuals Officer. “In supporting staff who will depart 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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