The auto supplier Continental wants to close two locations in Hesse and cut a total of 1,200 jobs. The Schwalbach and Wetzlar locations would be closed by the end of 2025 and work would gradually be relocated to Frankfurt and Babenhausen. The company announced on Tuesday afternoon that part of the workforce would then move confirmed a report by manager magazine
. The remaining positions are to be eliminated in a “socially acceptable” manner.
Jobs are also to be eliminated or relocated in Frankfurt and Babenhausen. In total, 2,300 of the approximately 8,000 employees in the Rhine-Main area are affected, of which 1,100 are due to move. The restructuring is about both administration and research and development.
“With these measures, we are improving our cost structure and, in particular, strengthening collaboration in research and development,” said Automotive board member Philipp von Hirschheydt (49), according to the statement. Frankfurt, already the headquarters of the automotive division, is to be expanded into a competence center for vehicle software and architectures, and Babenhausen is to become a location purely for displays and cockpits. CEO Nikolai Setzer (52) announced at the end of 2023 that the segment would be separated organizationally so that options could then be examined. Everything is possible, from the entry of an investor or a joint venture to a sale or an IPO.
Discussions about job cuts and job relocations begin
According to a spokesman, the largest job cuts will not occur at the two locations that will be eliminated, but in Frankfurt, the Conti division’s largest location in Hesse, with 4,700 employees. 630 jobs will be lost there. In Schwalbach and Wetzlar, around a third of the jobs will be lost as a result of the closure. Conti wants to continue to employ the remaining employees in Frankfurt or Babenhausen. So far, Conti employs 930 people in Schwalbach and 460 in Wetzlar.
He wants redundancies for operational reasons Auto supplier avoid. “Our goal is to make this reduction as socially acceptable as possible,” said a spokesman for the German Press Agency. “We will do everything we can to find good, individual solutions together with our social partners and the works council.” Discussions about this will now take place Early retirement programs, partial retirement and qualification programs for new jobs with other employers are conceivable.
Job creation is part of the consolidation program announced in February for the weakening division. 7,150 jobs are to be eliminated worldwide and locations are to be merged. As a result, administrative costs should fall by 400 million euros per year from 2025 and expenditure on research and development should fall to less than 10 percent of sales by 2028.