Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The Finnish vehicle manufacturer Valmet Automotive is undergoing a restructuring plan that will affect all 1,100 employees that work in the manufacturing business line in Uusikaupunki, Finland. The company has initiated cooperation negotiations, the result of which will determine the final number of employees to be laid off permanently or temporarily as well as how many will be employed in new functions.
The company reports that the reason behind the need for restructuring is the predictable decrease in car production volumes in the fall of 2022. The plant in Uusikaupunki gets a significant share of its assignments from Mercedes Benz, which has been affected by scarcity of components as well as supply chain problems, first due to the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently to the war in Ukraine. The cooperation negotiations do not apply to the plant’s battery business line and to the production of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class model.
Valmet Automotive has undergone rapid business expansion in the last couple of years. The company recruited 1,000 staff in March 2021 (Valmet Automotive-2021-FI) and other 250 during the autumn of 2021 at its plants in Uusimaa and Salo (Valmet Automotive-2021-FI). In 2020, the company increased their staff volume by 400 in Uusikaupunki (Valmet Automotive-2020-FI) and by 200 in Salo (Valmet Automotive-2020-FI).
Valmet Automotive is one of the largest vehicle contract manufacturers in the world and employs approximately 14,000 persons globally. The plant in Uusikaupunki employs 3,500 staff, and the company had a total of 4,197 staff in Finland at the end of 2021.
Updated [13/6/2022]: Valmet Automotive's co-operation negotiations have been concluded. The company will cut approximately 300 job positions at the beginning of July. Approximately 700 employees will be temporarily laid off. The temporary lay-offs are expected to end gradually during 2023.
Eurofound (2022), Valmet Automotive, Internal restructuring in Finland, factsheet number 106737, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/106737.