Nokia closes German plant

Nokia announced plans to slash some 2,300 jobs in Germany as it moves its production facilities to cheaper locales like Romania. The handset maker said it was closing the Bochum, Germany-based plant by mid-2008 because of a lack of competitiveness. The plant began operations in 1989. Nokia has a plant in Finland and another one in Hungary as well. 

"Due to market changes and increasing requirements for cost-effectiveness, production of mobile devices in Germany is no longer feasible... [Bochum] cannot be operated in a way that meets requirements for global cost efficiency and for flexible capacity growth," said Veli Sundback, chairman of the supervisory board of Nokia.

For more on the plant's closing:
- read this article from the WSJ (sub. req.)