Nokia Shuts Down Manufacturing Plant in Romania, 2,200 Employees Fired

Bad news for Romanian Nokia employees working at the manufacturing facility in Cluj, as the Finnish company has just announced its plans to shut down the factory.

According to Nokia, the planned closure will have a direct impact on approximately 2,200 employees.

After reducing its R&D operations in Smart Devices and Mobile Phones earlier this year, Nokia has started to cut down some of its manufacturing facilities across the globe.

It seems that the Romanian factory is one of the first to be closed by Nokia, but the company also announced reductions of personnel at some of its manufacturing facilities in Salo, Finland, Komarom, Hungary, and Reynosa, Mexico.

Even though these manufacturing facilities will remain opened, to serve the European and North American smartphone market, Nokia intends to shift their focus to “customer and market-specific software and sales package customization.”

“Europe is core to Nokia's future. In addition to our headquarters, we have a strong R&D presence in Europe. We have four major R&D sites in Finland and two major R&D sites in Germany, as well as Nokia Research Centers and other supporting R&D sites in Europe. Nokia also retains a strong local presence in our many sales offices throughout this region, as well as our operations in Salo and Komarom,” said Stephen Elop, Nokia President and CEO.

However, these changes will not affect the aformentioned factories in 2011, instead Nokia stated they will have an impact on the workforce beginning next year.

Romanian workers affected by the planned changes will be offered “comprehensive support programs” to make the transition less painful.

On related news, another 1,300 Nokia employees working in Location & Commerce business will be fired as well.

It appears that the Finnish company plans to close its Location & Commerce operations in Bonn, Germany and Malvern, United States.