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.
Signify (formerly Philips Lighting) has announced it will dismiss 121 of its employees at its facility in Turnhout. Of this total, 87 will be blue collar workers and 34 white collar. One of the main reasons behind the restructuring measure is the fact that the production facility is specialised in the production of conventional (non-LED) lights, with specific purposes like: stadium lighting, greenhouses, streetlights and projectors. The market for these specific products continues to shrink due to innovations in LED technology. The news does not come as a surprise to the current staff, as the situation has become increasingly clear throughout the years and was communicated as such to the personnel. The company management states they will try to keep production at Turnhout but that this can only be done by reducing fixed costs.
Eurofound (2019), Signify, Internal restructuring in Belgium, factsheet number 98930, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/98930.