02.02.2016

Kalmar to shift stacking cranes to China

Kalmar has announced plans to reorganise its operations in Tampere, Finland, and step up cooperation with its Chinese joint venture - Rainbow Cargotec Industries (RCI).

The plan is to transfer automatic stacking crane production from Tampere, Finland to the joint venture, which already handles rubber-tyred gantry cranes. Kalmar would continue to be responsible for automation and software development, sales, marketing and customer interface, as well as deliveries of mega projects.

Kalmar has begun the cooperation procedure with its personnel in Tampere, where it anticipates reducing the 300 strong workforce by around 35, in addition to some temporary lay-offs. Automation and software development is not included the negotiations.

Kalmar’s senior vice president, automation and projects - Antti Kaunonen said: "Port automation is in the core of our strategy, and we expect strong growth in this area in the future. That is why we are currently recruiting more software developers here in Tampere. At the same time, we must make sure that we are competitive in the global market. Together with RCI, we have been very successful in delivering Kalmar RTG projects within the set time, budget and Kalmar quality standards as well as to the full satisfaction of the customers. This gives us confidence that a similar cooperation model in Automatic Stacking Cranes business would help us in executing our automation strategy".
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Kalmar Automatic Stacking Cranes