Continental Cuts Back Production at German Tyre Making Factories

Production is being cut back at Continental’s three German tyre production plants. From December 4 until early January no truck tyres will be manufactured at the company’s Hannover-Stöcken facility, and other production adjustments will take place at this and the Conti factories in Korbach and Aachen.

In addition to eliminating overtime work and scheduling additional production free days for the Christmas – New Year period, the Korchach and Stöcken facilities have applied to utilise the German government’s ‘Short Work’ scheme, by which employees at idled facilities continue to receive a percentage of their normal pay. According to Conti press officer Alexander Lührs, the Short Work period will fall during the production break over Christmas; the company has already applied to receive the applicable employee pay subsidies from the government. Lührs added, however, that he couldn’t say whether ‘market environment difficulties’ were behind the company’s decision and if a pessimistic outlook for the coming year will lead to an extension of Short Work at the Korbach factory, which at present has an output of around ten million passenger car tyres per year.

In the Hannover-Stöcken truck tyre plant the measures being implemented are even more marked than in Korbach. As stressed truck tyre press officer Udo Brandes to Tyres & Accessories, the Short Work at this factory will begin on December 4 and continue until January 5, and will affect about 600 employees at the site. Short Work has only been implemented following the elimination of all overtime, Brandes added. An extension to this planned break in production or an early end to it is said to be dependent on the ongoing situation, however a premature termination through a definite increase in truck tyre demand is unlikely.

The Aachen factory, which presently produces mainly summer tyres along with SSR run-flat tyres, will probably not introduce Short Work measures at this time – the cutting out of overtime and an increased break at Christmas will however most likely occur. Overall, these measures are said to make jobs at Continental in Germany more secure. Their success will, naturally, be dependent upon how demand for Conti’s tyre products develops over the coming year.