(AP) — German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG said Thursday it plans to cut about 2,000 jobs in Germany due to lower market demand.

Siemens, based in Munich, said the low-voltage motors division of its drive technologies unit would cut 840 jobs at Siemens' Bad Neustadt an der Saale location, and 300 jobs at the company's Erlangen location, by the end of 2012.

Siemens said it would bundle production of its low-power and low-voltage motors instead at its Mohelnice location in the Czech Republic.

"By bundling our manufacturing activities in Mohelnice, we intend to actively promote technological change and to gear our structures to the future," said Klaus Helmrich, the Chief Executive of the Drive Technologies Division in Siemens' statement.

At the industry solutions division, which sells products and services to the steel, cement and paper industries, Siemens said it would cut a further 850 people because of declining market volume which will lead to very low capacity utilization in 2011. Those jobs are spread over locations across Germany, the company said.

"Investment activity in the construction of new systems is still cautious in our markets, especially in Germany," said Jens Wegmann, the CEO of the industry solutions division.

"This factor is compounded by weakness in the service and modernization businesses. We will now develop solutions for reducing capacity in the short and medium term," Wegmann said.

Siemens said it will use all means to minimize the impact of the job losses including voluntary termination of contracts, expiration of limited-term contracts, the exchange of personnel between locations and reduced working hours.

Siemens, Germany's biggest industrial conglomerate, divides its businesses into three sectors; industry, energy, and health care. The company builds a wide range of products from light bulbs to high-speed trains and is very active in the renewable energy sector.

Siemens shares were down half a percent at euro66.66 ($93.32) in Frankfurt afternoon trading.

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