Mahle is planning to relocate its research and development centre in Foetz in Luxembourg.
By mid-2021, all activities there will be discontinued and integrated into other Mahle locations. Development activities at the location are currently focused on air conditioning compressors.
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The organisational merger of the main competences in the areas of mechanics, electric motors and electronics is already under way with the creation of the new Mahle business unit for mechatronics and electronics as of January 1, 2020.
The existing profit centre for compressors will also be integrated into this business unit. Currently, 78 employees work at Foetz.
In addition, a location closure is planned for the plants in La Loggia/Saluzzo, Italy. The plants in La Loggia (production) and Saluzzo (foundry) produce exclusively diesel engine pistons.
The group of plants has been suffering from declining sales and profit losses for more than a decade. With the continuing fall in demand for diesel engines and the vehicle manufacturers’ change in strategy, the outlook is no longer sustainable and Mahle is entering into a consultation process with the public authorities and employee representatives. The two locations currently have a total of around 450 employees.
For the production and development location in Rouffach/France, Mahle is planning what it terms a realignment. The group is investing heavily in development and manufacturing competences in the area of PTC heating elements, which will be the location’s focus in the future.
In order to create the necessary structures, the production of air conditioners in Rouffach should be discontinued and the activities for the aftermarket relocated. This would require the loss of around 240 jobs.
In March 2019, Mahle launched an internal cost reduction programme which supplements the programmes already initiated at the start of 2018 to improve profitability.
