Automotive Tier 1 Suppliers
Brose Steps on the Brake
The automotive supplier Brose is currently suffering from a massive drop in earnings and is therefore relying on the »Future Brose« renewal programme to increase its competitiveness.
The Coburg/Germany-based Brose Group sees itself under pressure. The transformation of the automotive industry, a declining market, especially in China, global price pressure, but also internal causes are affecting business development. The one-sided climate debate at the expense of the automotive industry creates additional uncertainty. Rising personnel and labor costs are jeopardizing the competitiveness of companies producing in Germany. In this mixed situation, the Brose Group is also having to cope with massive declines in earnings. The Group has launched the »Future Brose« renewal programme to boost growth and competitiveness. Savings of several hundred million euros are to be achieved in order to create the financial scope for investments in renewal and growth and thus be able to offer attractive jobs in the future as well.
Kurt Sauernheimer, CEO of the Brose Group, also sees responsibility for this development in his own company: »We will act decisively. We want to improve quality, develop forward-looking product innovations and reduce costs in the mid three-digit million range in order to strengthen our competitiveness. This is the only way we can obtain orders, achieve growth and keep our employees busy.«
Wanted: Software and IT specialists
According to Sauernheimer, bureaucratic processes are to be simplified and hierarchical levels reduced in order to strengthen the company. On the other hand, employees are to be qualified and retrained with a view to digitalisation in development, administration and production. The automotive supplier is increasingly looking for software and IT specialists.
Global competition is forcing the company — as Sauernheimer explains — to relocate work to low-cost countries. Brose plans to reduce the number of current jobs in Germany by around 2,000 by the end of 2022, mainly in the central and business divisions. The main locations affected are Bamberg, Hallstadt, Coburg and Würzburg. Brose will relocate the production of locking systems from Wuppertal, which currently employs around 200 people. The plants in Coburg, Würzburg, Hallstadt and Berlin are to cut a total of around 600 jobs.
Management, in cooperation with employee representatives, is determined to avoid layoffs as far as possible. Training remains an important part of the family company's human resources work. However, the number of trainees will be reduced by ten percent from next year.
»Largest renewal programme in the company's history«
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the location in Coburg, the chairman of the shareholders' meeting, Michael Stoschek, appealed to his employees: »We want to return to the characteristics of a family-owned company which have distinguished us in the past and which have been the reason for our extraordinary success. To this end, we have initiated the largest renewal program in the company's history.«
Ulrich Schrickel, Managing Director of Tür, heads the Future Brose program. »The current situation is not easy, but we are optimistic about the future. With this program, we are sustainably strengthening our competitiveness and will create new comfort experiences for our customers with intelligent, networked products,« explains Schrickel.
The mechatronics specialist builds on more than 100 years of experience and sees more opportunities than risks in the changing mobility industry. The Brose Group will expand its systems competence with cooperations in the area of software in order to create intelligent products from the combination of components, sensors and software and thus continue to be an attractive partner for its customers in the future.
