ZF says it will back tariff-free trade with the UK as Britain prepares its initial exit from the European Union (EU) next year and definitively in 2021 after a so-called ‘transition period.’
The latter designation, which British Prime Minister Theresa May prefers to call an ‘implementation period,’ is designed to shape the future business landscape between London and the remaining 27 EU countries and is one which the manufacturing sector is fervently hoping will effectively retain the status quo.
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Fierce debate is raging in the UK as to what sort of transition period there will be; staying in the Single Market and Customs Union during implementation, but having little say in its operation; quitting the arrangement altogether post 2021 or having ‘a’ form of Customs Union which would see similar benefits to those of today.
The issue has divided Parliamentarians on a cross-party basis with the government having to tread a precarious high-wire act designed to placate all political spheres, but manufacturing sectors on both sides of the Channel are plumping on the side of continuity, a position with which ZF appears to concur.
“For us Great Britain is a very important market and we have important customers over there,” ZF CEO, Wolf-Henning Scheider told just-auto at this week’s annual results conference in the supplier’s headquarters of Friedrichshafen in Southern Germany.
“We have no interest in having any limitations to trade. This is the opinion we going to stand for in public and vis a vis the politicians.”
The newly-installed ZF chief – just 45 days into the post after moving as chairman and CEO of Mahle also noted Industry 4.0 techniques were very much part of the German supplier’s manufacturing operations.
“I don’t really have to convince anyone at ZF [concerning Industry 4.0],” Scheider added to just-auto. “I was positively surprised how many 4.0 projects and also digital projects are already implemented at our locations.
“We have computer-aided assembly. I went to the production plants and asked employees what do you think about it – I only got positive feedback. The workers said these systems help us [and] we we are more flexible.
“We are going to include our employees in this approach.”
Scheider made his observations at the annual results day in the company’s headquarters in Friedrichshafen on the shores of Lake Constance where he unveiled 2017 EBIT rising from EUR2.2bn (US$2.7bn) to EUR2.3bn. Sales increased 3.6% to EUR36.4bn.
