The 106-year-old business, which is due to be spun-off by its parent company Siemens in the coming spring, plans to make the savings by cutting 12% of its workforce, selling off factories as well as purchasing chips for light emitting diode (LED) bulbs from competitors who can manufacture them cheaper.
Osram has so far been slow to enter the LED market sticking to incandescent bulbs, but will be hoping to take advantage of what consultancy group McKinsey expects to see a sevenfold increase by 2020.
Some 400 jobs will be affected in Germany, primarily related to the sites in Berlin, Wipperfürth and Munich but the main bulk of the jobs losses will come at international plants. The measures in Germany and internationally are aimed at plants with products at the end of their product life cycle or the closure of smaller plants with lower sales.
Commenting on the plans, Wolfgang Dehen, CEO of OSRAM Licht AG, said: “We are consequently treading the path of corporate reorganisation and in doing so are entering the digital lighting age.
“Compared to traditional products, the depth of our added value in LED-based products will be significantly reduced. Consequently, the personnel increase in the future fields will only partially compensate for the change in the traditional business.”
