Nokia said today it would lay off 3,500 more employees by closing a factory in Romania and cutting staff in its location and commerce business.

The manufacturing operations will be shifted to a more efficient plant in Asia.

The closure of the plant in Cluj, Romania, will cut 2,200 jobs; the restructuring of Nokia’s location division is expected to affect an additional 1,300 employees.

Nokia President and CEO Stephen Elop said the changes were necessary to streamline the company’s business ahead of its shift to Windows Phone 7.

“We are seeing solid progress against our strategy, and with these planned changes we will emerge as a more dynamic, nimble and efficient challenger,” he said in a statement. “We must take painful, yet necessary, steps to align our workforce and operations with our path forward.”

More job cuts will come in the first quarter of next year, when Nokia plans to reorganize factories in Finland, Hungary and Mexico. The company already cut 7,000 jobs from its payroll this year through layoffs and the transfer of its Symbian business to Accenture.

Separately, Nokia announced that its former CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has stepped down from his position as non-executive chairman of Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture between Nokia and Siemens. Jesper Ovesen has been appointed as the executive chairman of Nokia Siemens board.

Nokia and Siemens also plan to invest an additional $680 million in the joint venture in an effort to strengthen its finances.