The Atlas Weyhausen group is to reduce its 1,870-strong workforce by more than 750 to 1150 in a bid to become more profitable in the loader crane and excavator markets.
More components are to be outsourced from sub-suppliers in a move that will force the closure of two of Atlas’s five German factories. The two factories to be closed produce components and tools for the group.
“It is very tough and not very popular but we have to do it, otherwise we will not be competitive,” said Atlas marketing manager Günther Steinbrecher.
The company has been modifying its structure for more than a year, since it was taken over by the Eder Group. Other manufacturers have streamlined production to increase efficiency and it is something Atlas had not done under its former owners, according to Steinbrecher. “We have to come to an equal industrial standard,” he said.
In addition to component outsourcing the attempt to cut costs and raise efficiency is to include a redesigned assembly line and alterations to the production flow.
Components to be outsourced include steelwork and hydraulic cylinders. “We have a very deep production in relation to the number of units we produce,” Steinbrecher said. A typical small sub-supplier of hydraulic cylinders manufactures 500,000 cylinders a year, whereas Atlas manufactures around 70,000 which he says is no longer economical.
The process has started of closing the Löningen and Vechta factories in the Bremen area and is to be completed by mid-2003. Components are to be sourced in the region, elsewhere in Germany and also in the rest of Europe. The company expects some of the workers affected will find jobs with the sub-suppliers.
Atlas Weyhausen’s group turnover for 2000 was DM466m ($202m), 5.1% up on 1999’s figure.
