General Electric (GE) recently announced plans to reduce its global headcount by approximately 12,000 positions, affecting both professional and production employees. The announcement is in line with GE’s efforts to reduce its overall structural costs by $3.5 billion in 2017 and 2018.
The job cuts, combined with previous actions taken in 2017, are intended to strengthen GE Power’s global competitiveness and position the company to reach its announced target of $1 billion in structural cost reductions in 2018.
These plans are the result of challenges in the worldwide power market. Traditional power markets like gas and coal have softened in recent years, with volumes down significantly due to overcapacity, lower utilization, fewer outages, an increase in steam plant retirements and an overall growth in renewables.
"This decision was painful but necessary for GE Power to respond to the disruption in the power market, which is driving significantly lower volumes in products and services," said Russell Stokes, president and CEO of GE Power. "Power will remain a work in progress in 2018. We expect market challenges to continue, but this plan will position us for 2019 and beyond."
GE Power generates more than 30 percent of the world’s electricity and equips 90 percent of transmission utilities worldwide.
For more information, visit www.ge.com.