To meet the manufacturing requirements of Vestas’ changing product portfolio the company intends to scale down production of V136 blades and invest in other blade types and capabilities according to market demand.
Specifically, the scale-down of V136 blade production in Europe will impact their facilities in Lauchhammer, Germany and in Lem, Denmark, where they intend to reduce the workforce at the two sites by a total of approximately 590 hourly-paid employees.
The Lauchhammer factory will continue to produce V117 blades and Vestas will upgrade the V117 blade moulds to ensure continued production, while limited production of V136 blades also will continue. The intended workforce reductions include approximately 500 hourly-paid employees, specifically 170 third-party employees and 330 temporary workers. This represents an approximately 50 percent reduction in the number of employees at the factory.
With its proximity to Vestas’ R&D Centre in Aarhus and several test sites in Denmark, Vestas’ blade facilities in Lem will remain the hub of Vestas’ blade innovation and will continue producing all blade prototypes and test blades for the entire Vestas product portfolio, production of blade moulds and introduction of new blade variants to the market. V136 blade production will cease in Denmark as part of the scale-down. The intended workforce reduction at the blade facilities in Lem totals approximately 90 hourly paid employees and corresponds to around 12 percent of the facility’s employees.