Siemens cutting 17K jobs worldwide to cut costs

FRANKFURT, Germany - Industrial conglomerate Siemens AG said Tuesday it will cut 16,750 jobs, or 4.2 percent of its global work force, to streamline operations and slice nearly $2 billion in costs in the face of a slowing economy.

The Munich-based maker of products ranging from light bulbs and medical equipment to high-speed trains and power turbines said the cuts would include 12,600 administrative jobs as well as another 4,150 positions involving restructuring projects at its various units. The company has a worldwide work force of approximately 400,000 people.

Siemens said it will consolidate its businesses from the current 1,800 separate legal entities to fewer than 1,000 and take its 70 regional companies and transform them into 20 regional clusters.

Siemens said the cuts were being made in an effort to reduce total costs by 1.2 billion euros ($1.8 billion) by 2010.

Chicago Tribune