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Ruukki to Initiate Employee Negotiations in Steel Service Centers, Sales Organization
05/18/2012 - Ruukki Metals Oy plans to initiate employer-employee negotiations concerning the centralization and efficiency of operations in its steel service centers and sales organization in Finland, as part of its project to improve competitiveness.
Ruukki Metals Oy plans to initiate employer-employee negotiations concerning the centralization and efficiency of operations in its steel service centers and sales organization in Finland, as part of its project to improve competitiveness. Employer-employee negotiations will also be initiated in some corporate business support functions.
The company estimates that a maximum of 90 people, 15 of which are workers and 75 salaried employees, will be affected. It plans to carry out some of the redundancies through retirement and redeployment.
In February, Ruukki initiated a project to improve the competitiveness of its steel business. The project seeks to achieve a permanent annual improvement of EUR 50 million in earnings performance and profitable business also when production is running at 80%, which is low for the steel industry, the company notes. Efforts will be made to improve the operating efficiency of the steel service centers and sales organization. Corporate business support functions will be adjusted to respond to business needs.
"The project now under way is important as far as the efficiency of our business is concerned. Working constructively with the entire personnel, we have identified ways to improve efficiency and, especially, flexibility. It is now recognized that the flexibility and savings being sought also regrettably require redundancies. Our aim is to improve our long-term competitiveness, which requires a permanently lower cost level of EUR 50 million and continued cost control," said Olavi Huhtala, Executive Vice President of Ruukki Metals.
Ruukki provides its customers with energy-efficient steel solutions. The company operates in about 30 countries and employs around 11,800 people. Net sales in 2011 totaled EUR 2.8 billion.
