Wärtsilä in Denmark restructures for a more flexible operation
Local Press Release, Hirtshals, 24th January 2012
Today the management of Wärtsilä Denmark (WDK) announced that the management has chosen to restructure and adapt its organization to current market trends in the maritime industry.
"Our customers in Denmark are mainly internationally oriented companies doing business worldwide. Wärtsilä has service locations globally and we will continue to provide services with improved flexibility, where our customers operate. The Danish market remains very important for Wärtsilä and we will not leave the country, but adapting our business to the current market situation is necessary", comments Claus Vogel, Managing Director of WDK.
The current organization in Hirtshals and Svenstrup is reduced by 65 full time employees and the company's floating dock and associated workshop activities in Hirtshals - collectively known as Ship Service - will be settled. Boiler Service, Engine Service, Propulsion and Laser & Alignment will be restructured to fit the new activity levels. Geografically all departments will in the near future be collected at one new location - yet to be clarified - in the area of Aalborg. Sales activities remain in Copenhagen. In total WDK employs 164 employees and restructuring will be completed late June 2012.
“The floating dock's current capacity and size limits us from the Danish Ship Services market because the size of new vessels has increased continuously over the last 20 years. Continued operation of the dock limits our ability to meet customer requests and the dock will only be relevant to an ever smaller part of the Danish maritime market potential. We will follow our customers to other shipyards, but no longer operate shipyard activity in Denmark "says Claus Vogel.
The objective of WDK is to focus on providing quality products to new buildings and services, with emphasis on knowledge and competence in close global cooperation with shipyards, local suppliers and other service units in Wärtsilä, to offer the most flexible solution to customers.
Wärtsilä can detect changes in customer inquiries and needs. Claus Vogel states: "We see a strongly increased focus on more environmentally friendly products and services. Wärtsilä is a leading company in precisely this new green technology. Therefore, we focus on our core competencies which lie in new products, technological knowledge, preventive inspections and lifecycle service agreements so that we, together with other partners, can ensure an efficient and proactive approach to our customers. By having a flexible organization in Denmark, we can add more value to our clients' business".
About the announcement today Claus Vogel says: "We have taken a tough decision today, which we acknowledge will affect many of our employees individually, but we have a social plan in place that will help the affected employees in finding a new job."
Claus Vogel continues: "The maritime market development is challenging and fast changing, but we are confident that if we continue to invest in knowledge-based workforce, we can meet both current and future commitments we have made with our customers".
Wärtsilä Danmark
Claus Vogel
Managing Director