Vestas to integrate onshore, offshore units; lay off 220 people
AARHUS, January 18, 2021
Extending its leadership to offshore wind, Vestas has begun the integration of Vestas and MHI Vestas Offshore Wind (MVOW) after acquiring the latter into one organisation that is based on one shared operating model and unified culture.
Extending its leadership to now encompass offshore wind, sustainable energy solutions provider Vestas has acquired MHI Vestas Offshore Wind (MVOW) and has begun the integration of Vestas and MVOW into one organisation that is based on one shared operating model and unified culture.
Offshore wind is expanding to new regions of the world and with onshore wind already present in all parts of the world, the integration of the two companies includes combining, expanding, and simplifying existing functions within Vestas to meet market demand and create synergies.
To address the climate crisis, the build-out of renewable energy must accelerate, and Vestas, therefore, wants to extend its leadership to encompass offshore wind.
Through this integration, Vestas is building a stronger and more competitive Vestas across our onshore and offshore businesses, and our planning has shown synergies across several functions, which unfortunately entail redundancies.
Consequently, Vestas intends to lay off approximately 220 colleagues in primarily Denmark and Great Britain, with the majority being in Denmark. No layoffs are expected of hourly paid employees.
Henrik Andersen, Group President and CEO of Vestas, said, “Since we announced the agreement to acquire MHI Vestas Offshore Wind, we have meticulously planned how we can build a united and strong Vestas organisation that can lead and scale up in both onshore and offshore wind. I want to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication during a difficult period where my colleagues have contributed to both the integration planning and execution of commercial commitments.
“We have now started implementing our integration plans, which unfortunately includes letting around 220 hardworking colleagues go. It is never easy to make such a decision or say goodbye to good colleagues but integrating and simplifying two companies inherently creates overlaps between functions and it’s therefore necessary if we want to create a competitive and scalable organisation.”
The organisational integration will continue throughout 2021 and include a consolidated and simplified organisational setup, which will be announced internally on February 1.
Vestas will now go into a consultation process with relevant employee representatives and aims to have clarity for most employees by end of January.
Following the recent announcement, Vestas employs more than 29,000 globally and around 6,000 in Denmark across onshore and offshore activities.
Vestas is the energy industry’s global partner on sustainable energy solutions. It designs, manufactures, installs, and services onshore and offshore wind turbines across the globe, and with more than 125 GW of wind turbines in 82 countries, has installed more wind power than anyone else. –Tradearabia News Service