Type
Offshoring/Delocalisation
Country
Estonia
Region
Eesti; Põhja-Eesti;
Location of affected unit(s)
Keila
Sector
Manufacturing
Manufacture Of Computer, Electrical Electronic And Optical Products
Manufacture Of Electrical Equipment
27.32 - Manufacture of other electronic and electric wires and cables
New offshoring locations
Lithuania, Russian Federation

613 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
11 February 2016
Employment effect (start)
1 March 2016
Foreseen end date
1 March 2017

Description

Finnish cable harnesses manufacturer PKC Group announced that it will close down they plant in Keila, Estonia and relocate their production to Lithuania and Russia where the production costs are smaller. Within a year, the company will make 613 out of 707 people redundant. The company will continue the development of their European and Southern American regional centre with the remaining employees (such as engineers, production developers, production launchers, IT specialists, finance, human resource management, sales staff etc).

The closure has a big effect on the region, the biggest share of employees working in Keila factory are living in Keila (223 people), but many are from towns, parishes near Keila. The company notified the Estonian Employment Insurance Fund (EUIF) and met with the company and employees representatives on 12th February. The chairman of the executive board of Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund, Meelis Paavel, stated that they are ready to help the people who got the redundancy notification by providing different active labour market services. He also believed that a year is long enough time for employees to adjust with the new situation and if necessary complement their qualification with the help of EUIF and find a new job. During the meeting between the PKC, employees’ trustee and EUIF, it was agreed that information and counselling programmes for employees will start as of 2ndMarch and EUIF also informed that 5 companies are interested in the released qualified labour force. Employees’ trustee was positive after the meeting and believed that all employees will find new jobs. The company will carry out the redundancies in stages depending on the production.  


Sources

  • 12 February 2016: ERR
  • 11 February 2016: Lääne Elu
  • 12 February 2016: Harju Elu

Citation

Eurofound (2016), PKC , Offshoring/Delocalisation in Estonia, factsheet number 86471, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/86471.