The cost-cutting measures, which include consolidating plant capacities in Europe and the Americas, follow an earlier series of economies which focused on Schaeffler’s German activities. The new wave will include non-German activities and functional areas not directly part of the industrial division. The aim is to implement leaner structures, reduce production and administrative costs, and to improve the division’s financial results.
Schaeffler is also stepping up measures designed to deliver sales growth, despite the difficult market conditions. These measures include filling under-utilised production capacities with new and cost-optimised products.
“Our goal is to improve the EBIT margin of the industrial division to 10–11% by 2018,” says the division’s CEO, Dr Stefan Spindler. “This can only be accomplished if we continue to reduce our costs given stable market conditions, better utilise existing production capacities and increase our sales efforts.”
Spindler: aiming to improve EBIT to 10-11%
Schaeffler’s industrial division currently employs around 6,700 people. As well as seven factories dedicated to the division, 36 has Schaeffler’s bearing and components technologies factories that act as internal suppliers.
