Automotive supplier Schaeffler plans to eliminate 3,460 European roles and close five sites under a performance improvement programme targeting overcapacity, personnel costs, and organisational simplification.
The restructuring mainly affects the automotive original equipment (OE) manufacturing business.
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Its home market, Germany, will account for approximately 2,660 of the planned reductions.
Four of the five site closures are planned in the country, including the Dortmund plant, which employs 430 people, and the Morbach site, with 160 employees.
The company also intends to end operations in Berlin and close its Schwalbach site.
A large proportion of Schwalbach’s approximately 385 employees are expected to move to Frankfurt.
At Höchstadt, Schaeffler plans to stop toolmaking operations.
It will also adjust special machinery manufacturing at Erlangen and Schweinfurt, while further capacity and structural changes are planned at Herzogenaurach, Bühl, Nürnberg, and Regensburg.
Outside Germany, Schaeffler plans to adjust production and development capacity at Haguenau and Toulouse in France, and at Skalica and Kysuce in Slovakia.
Its Herstal production site in Belgium, which employs approximately 15 people, is also due to close.
Production roles account for around half of the affected positions, while research and development represents 30% and other functional areas make up 20%.
The measures are expected to deliver approximately €300m ($337.2m) in annual earnings improvements from 2030.
One-time costs are estimated at approximately €480m, with most expected to be recognised as restructuring provisions in 2026.
Schaeffler said it would consult employee representatives and works councils, with implementation mainly planned for 2027 and 2028.
It also plans a temporary, voluntary compensation reduction across all hierarchical levels to cut costs and limit further job losses.
Schaeffler said its Motion Technology Company strategy and new growth areas could offset some reductions.
The announcement comes as Germany’s automotive industry cuts tens of thousands of jobs.
Volkswagen said in September that it would double planned job cuts to 100,000, with a substantial proportion in Germany.
Porsche decided in July to cut another 5,000 jobs by 2035, taking its planned reductions to 9,000 roles.
