Swedish rolled aluminium firm Gränges AB said yesterday it is reorganizing its domestic operations in order to enhance customer service and long-term regional competitiveness.
Though details were sparse, Gränges Europe said that the changes would impact just under two dozen white-collar positions in Sweden. At present, Gränges Europe boasts a workforce in its home country of 490 individuals, including 161 classified as white-collar workers. The firm says it has notified those whose positions are subject to reorganization and has already begun negotiations with the individuals’ union representatives.
Jörgen Abrahamsson, President Gränges Europe, elaborated upon the motivation for the announced reorganization in a related press release.
“We are constantly working to improve efficiency and develop our operations. The new organization will be even more customer- and market oriented and aims to further improve our customer offering, strengthen Gränges Europe’s competitiveness and contribute to continued growth.”
Gränges says the move will cost SEK 15 million, which will be reflected on the fourth-quarter numbers. However, it expects the reorganization will allow it to enhance the development of competence management.
Begun in 1873 in Stockholm, Sweden as Trafik AB Grängesberg-Oxelösund, Gränges AB was resurrected in 2013 as a private company specializing in rolled aluminium heat exchangers. It employs almost 1,800 employees at the present time at two plants – one in Finspång, Sweden, that opened in its present configuration in 1972, and a second in Shanghai, China, opened in 1996. The firm boasts a total nameplate capacity of 420 thousand metric tons per annum and an annual sales total of SEK13 billion (US$1.35 billion).