Arguing a cyclical sluggishness, the German equipment manufacturer has confirmed its plan to remove posts. 5,500 jobs are involved. Continental expects to save 500 million euros per year by 2023.
The chopper fell at Continental. Whereas since last September, a plan of suppression of position was preparing , the equipment manufacturer revealed the details, this November 20, 2019. Finally, it is not 4 800 as envisaged a time, but 5 500 positions which will be affected by the measure of the German group, reports AFP.
The supervisory board approved the project which provides for 4,600 job cuts in five factories, including three in Germany, one in Virginia in the United States and one in Pisa, Italy, in addition to 900 jobs in North Carolina and in Malaysia, which had already been abolished at the end of September 2019. This enlargement concerns, in addition to the Rhine, the 1,800 jobs that will disappear on the Babenhausen site alone by 2025, and the 520 employees at the Roding plant which will be fully closed by 2024.
In Pisa and Limbach-Oberfrohna in Germany, stopping the manufacture of hydraulic components by 2028 will result in the loss of 750 and 850 jobs, respectively. The plant in Virginia will also be closed, as well as Henderson, North Carolina with about 1,400 jobs involved.
The tires and the car of the future
These decisions will enable Continental, the world’s second-largest automotive supplier employing 240,000 people, to ” support the necessary technology transition and therefore our competitiveness and future sustainability ,” said boss Elmar Degenhart . Of these measures, the group intends to take advantage to achieve 500 million annual savings from 2023. But he also says in his statement, have ” expanded the internal job market ” and its training offers to allow employees to respond to ” internal and external demand “.
Continental intends to focus more on ” growth and future activities ” such as tire manufacturing or autonomous and connected cars. The equipment manufacturer recently announced a net loss in the third quarter of 1.99 billion euros, mainly due to the depreciation of some activities affected by a market leaded by Brexit and trade disputes. It also intends to separate its communications division by an IPO from next year.