Schaeffler plans to cut 3,460 jobs across Europe and close four German sites, stepping up its cost-cutting program. The company said 2,660 of the positions will be in Germany, equivalent to about 9% of its nearly 32,000 German employees. Including previously announced measures, the cuts will affect around 18% of its workforce in the country.
The company plans to close its plants in Dortmund, where 430 people work, and Morbach, which employs 160. Both sites make products for combustion engines. Schaeffler will also close its Berlin site, eliminating 270 jobs, and its location in Schwalbach, near Frankfurt. Most of Schwalbach’s roughly 385 employees are expected to move to Schaeffler’s Frankfurt plant.
Production is also set to be reorganized and reduced in some areas at seven other German locations: Höchstadt, Erlangen, Schweinfurt, Herzogenaurach, Bühl, Nuremberg and Regensburg.
For the next two years, employees who remain with the company are also expected to agree voluntarily to give up part of their pay. Schaeffler said the contribution would otherwise have required even larger job cuts.
The measures are expected to improve annual results by €300 million from 2030. Chief Executive Klaus Rosenfeld estimates the program will incur one-off costs of about €480 million. Schaeffler cited the crisis in Europe’s automotive industry as the reason for further countermeasures and structural changes.
Sources: Der Spiegel.