FOXCONN
Finnish mobile phone component production to cease soon / Move to industrial park in India
The Taiwanese Hon Hai Group, which trades as Foxconn (Lahti / Finland; www.foxconn.com) and supplies components to the electronics industry, plans to close down Finnish production of mobile phone components completely. Some 400 of the remaining 440 employees will lose their jobs. Most of the others will be employed in a service company, and a few production jobs will remain, attaching names of the mobile operators to the finished components.
It has been less than three years since Foxconn took over Finnish injection moulder Eimo, with two plants in Finland and activities in North America. Last year, the plant in Hollola / Finland was closed and production consolidated at the nearby Lahti site – see Plasteurope.com Web of 30.06.2005.
Timo Harju, head of the Finnish operation, told the local press that while the company believed at that time it could at least successfully manufacture components for the more expensive mobile phone models in Finland, this hope had since gone up in smoke. Production of these components is also moving to Asia. Like all its competitors, Foxconn will follow the OEMs to ever new low-wage countries. More or less at the same time as announcing the Finnish closure, Hon Hai said it would set up a large factory in an industrial park in Sriperumbudur / India – only about 50 km from Chennai, where Motorola and Nokia recently have opened production plants. In the next five years, Hon Hai intends to invest a total of USD 110m in the production of electronic components in India, including mobile phone covers.
Foxconn, of course, already has a massive presence in China. Here, competitors such as Perlos and Balda seem to be constantly building new facilities and expanding existing ones. However, while production at Balda´s German headquarters at least remains stable, following the closure of its plant in Ylöjärvi, Perlos has announced that 600 additional jobs in Finland are to go – see Plasteurope.com Web of 02.03.2006. As regards Finland, Nokia, the country´s major OEM, evidently intends to increasingly withdraw from local production, leaving behind significant gaps.
It has been less than three years since Foxconn took over Finnish injection moulder Eimo, with two plants in Finland and activities in North America. Last year, the plant in Hollola / Finland was closed and production consolidated at the nearby Lahti site – see Plasteurope.com Web of 30.06.2005.
Timo Harju, head of the Finnish operation, told the local press that while the company believed at that time it could at least successfully manufacture components for the more expensive mobile phone models in Finland, this hope had since gone up in smoke. Production of these components is also moving to Asia. Like all its competitors, Foxconn will follow the OEMs to ever new low-wage countries. More or less at the same time as announcing the Finnish closure, Hon Hai said it would set up a large factory in an industrial park in Sriperumbudur / India – only about 50 km from Chennai, where Motorola and Nokia recently have opened production plants. In the next five years, Hon Hai intends to invest a total of USD 110m in the production of electronic components in India, including mobile phone covers.
Foxconn, of course, already has a massive presence in China. Here, competitors such as Perlos and Balda seem to be constantly building new facilities and expanding existing ones. However, while production at Balda´s German headquarters at least remains stable, following the closure of its plant in Ylöjärvi, Perlos has announced that 600 additional jobs in Finland are to go – see Plasteurope.com Web of 02.03.2006. As regards Finland, Nokia, the country´s major OEM, evidently intends to increasingly withdraw from local production, leaving behind significant gaps.
13.03.2006 Plasteurope.com [204893]
Published on 13.03.2006
German version of this article...