Production will cease at Lidhult.

Kalmar has confirmed it will shed 160 employees and gradually cease operations in Lidhult, Sweden, as it shifts production of forklift trucks fto Poland.

In March, Kalmar announced plans to consolidate its assembly operations in Europe. In order to improve operational efficiency and ensure long-term competitiveness in the global market, Kalmar said it would transfer the production of forklifts from Sweden to Poland.

Kalmar has just completed its employee cooperation negotiations with the labour unions in Lidhult, Sweden.

As a result of the negotiations, a new, state-of-the-art premises in Sweden will be added and the operations in Southern Sweden will be transformed into a Business, Innovation and Technology Centre.

The production of forklift trucks will be transferred to Kalmar's assembly operations in Stargard, Poland, starting from the fourth quarter of 2016. The transfer is expected to be finalised by the end of 2017.

The restructuring costs associated with the transfer are estimated to amount to approximately EUR18 million(USD19.8 million), out of which EUR16 million (USD17.6 million) will be booked in Cargotec's results in 2016 and EUR2 million (USD2.2 million) in 2017.

"The decisions are, of course, sad for the people in Lidhult. However, these actions are needed to sustain our global leadership position on the global markets. Through the change, we will gain synergies and make our production setup more cost competitive, enabling us to focus on our technological competence development in digital business," says Dan Pettersson, senior vice president, mobile equipment, Kalmar.

"Kalmar's new Business, Innovation and Technology Centre in Ljungby will create new business and job opportunities in Southern Sweden. According to our estimates, we will have around 200 people employed at the new site in the future. In Stargard, Poland, we are expanding our operations to facilitate the production of forklift trucks. This will create about 200 new jobs in the region," he adds.

Kalmar currently employs 350 people in Lidhult and Ljungby, Sweden, and approximately 320 people in Poland.