Perlos

Type
Internal restructuring
Country
World
Region
Location of affected unit(s)
Sector
Manufacturing
(22 - 23) Manufacture of rubber, plastic and non-metallic minerals
22 - Manufacture of rubber and plastic products
22 - Manufacture of rubber and plastic products
4,000 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
15 January 2007
Employment effect (start)
Foreseen end date

Description

Mobile telephone cover manufacturer Perlos plans to end manufacturing operations in Finland. The company will initiate personnel negotiations with staff applying to about 1,400 employees. In addition to Finland, Perlos is planning to reduce its worldwide workforce of about 13,000 employees by 4,000.

Perlos has three factories in China - two in Beijing and one in Guangzhou. In addition, it manufactures injection moulds in Shenzhen. Perlos is currently building a new plant in Guangzhou, as well as a new factory in Chennai, in India. At the end of 2006 it employed a total of 7,612 people in Asia. In Europe, there are operations in Finland, as well as Komarom in Hungary and a product planning centre in the Swedish city of Lund. At the end of 2006, the company's European personnel numbered 4,207, including those in Finland. In the Western hemisphere, Perlos has factories in Reynosa, Mexico, and Manaus, Brazil, employing 1,123 people by the end of 2006.

Perlos gave out advance information of its third quarter result on 15 January 2007. The figures showed that turnover in October through December had fallen to 144 million euro from 200 million euro the previous year. The company's Board of Directors said that it had decided on its profitability improvement programme. The aim is to achieve greater efficiency in operations and reduce annual expenses by more than 100 million euro by the end of 2007. In addition to personnel cuts, the company is trying to reduce costs through greater efficiency in production processes, purchasing and subcontracting. According to Perlos CEO Matti Virtanen, an aim of the profitability improvement programme is to renew the company’s operating procedures. "Perlos has a healthy and competitive core business, but its cost structure does not correspond to the current level of net sales. I am convinced that with this process of change, our financial performance will improve and we will simultaneously improve our competitiveness in order to become better and quicker at responding to our customers' changing needs", Virtanen says.

Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2007), Perlos, Internal restructuring in World, factsheet number 64875, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/64875.