ZURICH, Nov 14 Reuters Siemens could cut up to 5,000 jobs worldwide in its struggling factory automation business, Chief Executive Roland Busch said on Thursday.

Sometimes we have to do some reengineering because the developments weren39;t as positive as we expected them to be, said Busch after Siemens reported a 46 plunge in profit at its flagship digital industries business.

This means we are going to have a low to mediumsized fourdigit amount which will affect some areas, Busch said.

No exact figure for the job figures has yet been decided, said Siemens, which employs 70,000 in digital industries globally.

Busch added that he saw longterm potential for the automation market, due to shrinking populations and the low level of mechanization at small and mediumsized companies.

Reporting by John Revill and Alexander Huebner Editing by Miranda Murray

Source Reuters