Hanover, Germany - Computer manufacturer Fujitsu signalled plans Tuesday to prune its European product range after buying out Siemens' half in their former joint venture Fujitsu Siemens Computers. Joseph Reger, chief technology officer of the venture, which is soon to drop Siemens from its name, said in an interview with the dpa-AFX news agency in Hanover that jobs would also be slashed during its absorption into the Japanese group.
"In the past, Fujitsu Siemens had a very broad range," he said. "We don't want that any more."
Fujitsu Siemens has already ceased sales of personal digital assistant (PDA) computers and flat-panel television sets, and would move next to thin out its range of personal computers.
"Previously we had more than a dozen notebook platforms," he said. "By now, we have only half as many." Reger said the new Fujitsu European division would also seek to offer computers as part of a package of services rather than as a commodity.
"We don't really want to keep doing the type of business where computers by themselves are offered as the product," he said.
The company would offer packages of software with the computers or contracts to service them in use.
The absorption would lead to a loss of 1,000 of the 10,500 jobs at Fujitsu Siemens, with the German workforce of 6,000 alone shedding 600.
He said there would be no layoffs, but declined to specify how much the company would pay for buyouts for those who agreed to leave.
Fujitsu paid 450 million euros (567 million dollars) to acquire the remaining stake in the business in November. It will become a regional division of Fujitsu from April 1, but its name has not been announced.
"It won't be 'Fujitsu Computers', I can tell you that much," said Reger. He said the brand on the product would be simply "Fujitsu," though the takeover contract allowed use of the name "Fujitsu Siemens" for a further year.
He confirmed the company had lost market share in Europe to other Asian manufacturers, but declined to forecast turnover in the financial year which will end this March 31.
"We will have lower turnover. That is the price of restructuring," he said. "We are slimming down now so that we can grow later.
