In a sluggish automobile market, the equipment manufacturer Forvia announced, Monday February 19, a plan which could lead to the elimination of “10,000 jobs” by 2028 in Europe. The conditions of this plan must be negotiated from this Monday with the group’s union organizations.
Forvia, which manufactures, among other equipment, passenger compartments, headlights and exhaust systems, became profitable again to the tune of 222 million euros in 2023, for a turnover of 27.2 billion euros ( 10.9% over one year) but the company remains in debt, management said while presenting its results for the year 2023.
It is also about making the group less dependent on China, where Forvia records 27% of its sales but most of its profit. While the group had 75,500 employees in Europe at the end of 2023, notably in France, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and Spain, the plan “will concern all sites, but not in the same way”, said Forvia’s financial director, Olivier Durand, during a press conference.
500 million euro savings plan
“We have had a decline in the European market, and we do not see any possible progression in the short or medium term. And we have a certain number of sites which are not operating at their full capacity,” he stressed, affirming that the objective, with this plan, is to “restore our complete competitiveness”.
This savings plan, which is expected to reach 500 million euros by 2028, will involve job cuts and reduced use of temporary workers, among other measures. “We must ensure that we limit recruitment to what is necessary, manage the flexibility that we have through our subcontractors. Our industry moves regularly and we know how to adjust our industrial capacities,” defended Olivier Durand, who also wants to “accelerate the deployment of artificial intelligence within the group.”