Solvay Set to Cut 600 Jobs in Europe and Brazil

Belgian speciality chemical company, Solvay, has announced a major restructuring which will see it cut 600 jobs and concentrate research activities in Lyon and Brussels. The company said that the move was part of an ongoing effort to streamline its organisation and upgrade its innovation capabilities. Solvay, which employs 24,500 people in 61 countries, said it was simplifying its structure after it had sold off many business units over the past years.

The company did not elaborate on how the simplification would be implemented but said it would maintain its decentralised model. Its global business units will be responsible for developing their own strategic plans and implementing them with the support of the group.

“This new step in Solvay’s transformation centres on better serving our customers. Over the past six years we built a business portfolio to generate superior and sustainable growth. Now we need to follow through and drastically simplify our organisation and processes as well as align all our resources. This will allow Solvay to provide differentiated experiences for customers and maximise value for the Group,” said Mr. Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, CEO of Solvay was quoted as saying in a company press note.

The company said that while 160 jobs would disappear in France, 90 in Portugal and 80 in Brazil, it would seek to make most redundancies voluntary or through the normal retirement cycle.

Solvay said it would move most of its research and development activities from the Paris area to its chemistry research centre in Lyon, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of the French capital, and to its advanced materials science centre in Brussels, Belgium in the next four years. Solvay plans to upgrade its largest global research site in Lyon to a centre for advanced chemistry. In Belgium, the expansion of R&I in advanced materials science would coincide with plans to revamp the Brussels headquarters.