Wärtsilä to Discontinue Production in Turku

The second part of Wärtsilä's business analysis, started last autumn, has now been finalized. In addition to reductions in capacity already decided, the company also plans to discontinue engine manufacture at its Turku factory. The manufacture of large engines will be centered at Trieste, Italy. Under this plan the Turku unit will concentrate on service and maintenance activities. The Turku unit employs 680 at the moment. Consultations related to this plan will be started in Finland with personnel representatives on the reduction of about 480 employees in Turku. The number of employees in the Turku unit is estimated to be approximately 200 in the structure. The Trieste factory, the Group's largest in size, is equipped to manufacture a number of products simultaneously. The factory has already acted as a back-up manufacturing facility for the Wärtsilä 46 engine and it has experience of producing several different engine types. Engines previously manufactured at Wärtsilä's factory in the Netherlands were recently added to the Trieste Factory's production program. With respect to gas engines, a central factor in the decision was the direct availability of gas from a gas pipeline in the Trieste factory. Production and R&D activities at Wärtsilä's Vaasa factory in Finland will continue in their present form. The business analysis will also result in personnel reductions totaling approximately 70 persons at Wärtsilä Propulsion sites in Norway and the Netherlands. In September Wärtsilä announced the plan to reduce some 400-500 employees worldwide. Hence, including the new plan, personnel reductions will now cover altogether about 1 100 employees. Wärtsilä's personnel totaled 12 100 at the end of 2003. A provision totaling EUR 130 million will be entered in the fourth-quarter accounts for 2003 to cover both the restructuring measures announced in September and the capacity reduction plans announced now. This will burden the 2003 result of the Power Divisions. Wärtsilä publishes its Financial Statements Bulletin for 2003 on 5 February 2004.