Nokia's Chennai plant will not benefit due to shifting of smartphone manufacturing from the company's factories in Hungary, Mexico and Finland to Asia.
Reason, the Chennai plant at Sriperumbudur makes only mobile phones and not smartphones, which are manufactured in China and South Korea.
Nokia today announced planned changes at its factories in Komarom (Hungary), Reynosa (Mexico) and Salo (Finland). Smartphone device assembly is expected to be transferred to Nokia factories in Asia, where the majority of component suppliers are based. “We currently have four manufacturing facilities in Asia. Beijing and Masan, Korea are our smartphone production facilities, and assembly will be focused there. Chennai is unaffected by these changes since it makes mobile phones, not smartphones,” a Nokia official told
More job cuts
As a consequence of the plans, the number of steps in manufacturing and the amount of work carried out at the sites in Komarom, Reynosa and Salo are expected to decrease substantially. The changes are anticipated to impact approximately 4,000 employees in total.
The three factories are planned to focus on smartphone product customisation, serving customers mainly in Europe and the Americas.
“Shifting device assembly to Asia is targeted at improving our time to market. By working more closely with our suppliers, we believe that we will be able to introduce innovations into the market more quickly and ultimately be more competitive,” said Mr Niklas Savander, Nokia Executive Vice-President, Markets.
Personnel reductions are planned to be phased through the end of 2012. Nokia will offer a comprehensive locally-tailored support programme, including financial support and assistance with local re-employment, Nokia said in a statement.