Bombardier mulls German plant closures
January 9, 2017
Canadian train manufacturer Bombardier Transport is investigating closing entire plants in Germany, according to a media report on Sunday.
The closures are part of a larger restructuring plan to transform Germany from a production to a development hub, Germany's leading business daily, "Handelsblatt," reported on Monday citing internal Bombardier documents.
In coming months, the "competences of the sites in Germany will be reviewed, re-defined and their strengths bundled," "Handelsblatt" quoted the documents as saying.
Part of this restructuring will also include reviewing plant closures "specifically in Görlitz and Bautzen."
Bombardier currently employs some 8,500 workers in Germany, but the company is considering cutting up to 2,500 of those jobs, according to "Handelsblatt."
Bombardier's executive board will meet later on Monday with German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel along with Brandenburg state premier Dietmar Woidke and Saxony state premier Stanislaw Tillich to discuss its plans.
The cities of Görlitz and Bautzen are located in Saxony while another Bombardier production plant is located in the Brandenburg city of Henningsdorf.
In October of last year, the Canadian aircraft and train manufacturer announced that it would be reducing 7,500 jobs worldwide by the end of 2018, but did not say how many jobs would be cut in Germany.
The company's rail arm, Bombardier Transportation, is headquartered in Berlin.
rs/kl (AFP, dpa)