- Slowing demand in automotive industry makes restructuring necessary
- Program to run until the end of 2020
Mannheim, 10 October 2019 | On Wednesday, Röchling Automotive SE & Co. KG, based in Mannheim, announced a structure program under the title “Driving Future.” The program aims to prepare the company for the global automotive industry’s altered challenges.
Prof. Hanns-Peter Knaebel, President & CEO of the Röchling Group: “As a global automotive supplier actively supporting the industry’s transformation, we have to respond to the slowing demand from end customers worldwide and adapt our company to the changed market conditions. This is an important step in order to ensure profitable growth in the years ahead.”
The restructuring is intended to allow the company to operate in a more customer-centric and agile manner on the market in the future. It will involve pushing digitalization even further. Internal processes are to be simplified, hierarchies dismantled and various departments and areas of the organization linked more closely together. Expertise in high-performance plastics is to be built up further.
Moreover, parts of the program will allow employees to participate actively in the form of workshops, working groups, and project groups. “We see the active involvement of our employees in the design of the program as an important criterion for successfully making Röchling Automotive fit for the future,” says Raphael Wolfram, CFO of Röchling Automotive.
As part of the structure program, up to ten percent of administrative jobs are to be cut worldwide. Negotiations on this with the employee representatives have already begun. The structural measures are expected to be completed by the end of 2020.