industry
Supplier ZF: achieve savings target – but that’s not enough
ZF is making progress in saving, but that’s not enough for chief Holger Klein. There is a lot at stake for the drive division. And for the employees, when the EU sticks to its goals, says Klein.
The head of the crisping car supplier ZF Friedrichshafen, Holger Klein, does not yet see his company at the destination when reaching even saved savings goals. “We are around 5.8 billion that we have reached and will now close the gap at the end of the year. But we see clearly, that is not enough,” said the manager of the German press agency. ZF announced a first savings goal of six billion euros for the years 2024 and 2025 in 2023. However, the manager did not give a sum for a new savings goal.
Management and works council are currently talking about the realignment of the division for drives, internally called “Division E”. “I think everyone involved is clear that Division E is in the middle of a perfect storm,” said Klein. It is not competitive. The area includes the gearbox business for all drive types. He suffers particularly from the delayed start-up of e-mobility as well as with high costs and low margins in the traditional gear business.
Several options for the drive division
There are several options for the manager: “A partnership for e-division would be a good solution for us, because it would give you the opportunity to share costs and risks for the further development of new products with the partner and thus also secure more employment.” Restructuring without a partner can also be successful – but requires stronger measures to increase profitability. “We discuss both with the employee representatives.” He did not give details of the state of the talks. They should be completed by the end of September.
The works council had recently mobilized with protests against the planned cuts at ZF. The chairman of the overall works council, Achim Dietrich, explained: “The planned outsourcing or even the sale of division E is not a strategy that we can support”. Department or a sale would be a fatal mistake, Dietrich was quoted in a message at the time. ZF boss Klein now said: “My firm conviction is, with partners we have further growth potential and that would also have a positive impact on our jobs in Germany.” The company is currently stroking thousands of locations in Germany.
Loss in the first half of the year
ZF had a loss of 195 million euros in the first half of the year. ZF is currently suffering – like the competitors Bosch, Continental and Schaeffler – because of the low worldwide vehicle production from the lack of orders from the manufacturers. Klein said that in sales due to drastically reduced calls to the manufacturers, they were under schedule in the current year. You get that through the measures. But: “We don’t believe that 2026 will be better.”
The manager warned a review of the EU rules for the auto industry. “If we stay in the EU at one for the burner in 2035, then this will already have effects on our employment because we now have to develop the next generations of gearboxes for hybrid drives.” However, if it is not foreseeable that they were then allowed regulatory, then there is nothing to do for the engineers who normally did it.
In addition to driven, the company also offers steering systems, drives, brakes, safety technology and chassis components. ZF is highly indebted. The net liabilities amounted to around 10.5 billion euros at the end of June. The debts have their origin in the acquisition of the car supplier TRW and the brake specialist Wabco.
dpa
Source: Stern
