VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S By Dominic Chopping
Vestas Wind Systems AS said Wednesday that it will cut 450 jobs in the U.S., due to lower near-term market demand and the need to improve efficiency.
The company said the jobs will be lost across three factories in Colorado, but it expects to offer new roles in other parts of the business to around 150 of those impacted.
The Danish wind-turbine maker said it will consolidate blades production to the Windsor Blades factory and repurpose the Brighton Blades site into a North American headquarters for the global tooling business.
This move means ending blades production at the Brighton Blades factory, with the loss of around 280 jobs, while around 170 jobs will go at the Pueblo Towers and Brighton Nacelles factories.
"The wind energy industry in USA has grown tremendously in recent years, which has increased our factories' capacity and expanded our service business," said Vestas Chief Operating Officer, Tommy Rahbek Nielsen.
"With a larger fleet under service and lower demand in the near-term, we are therefore consolidating our setup in Colorado to ensure we can cater for our service business' needs, and are structured in the right way to ramp up efficiently once wind turbine demand requires us to."
Following today's announcement, Vestas employs over 29,000 people globally, of which around 4,500 are employed in the U.S.
Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-17-21 0854ET
