Pfizer, Hewlett-Packard and Delphi Packard have all announced extensive job cuts for the next few years in a bid to reduce costs.

New York-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer plans to axe 6000 jobs when it closes eight manufacturing plants and scales back operations at a further six. The plants in Germany, Ireland, Puerto Rico, the UK and the US will be closed or reduced by 2015 as the company prepares to lose valuable patent protection on one of its best-performing drugs.

“The restructuring of our global network is critical to our efforts to remain competitive,” says Pfizer’s head of manufacturing, Nat Ricciardi.

This comes as IT giant Hewlett- Packard plans to cut 3000 jobs as part of a $1bn restructuring and Michigan-based Delphi Packard, an automotive parts manufacturer, lays off 700 workers at its Czech plant.