Opel in Ruesselsheim
RüsselsheimOpel is a unique piece. The only constant in the car maker seems to be the crisis. While Volkswagen. BMW and Daimler despite the diesel scandal rushing from one sales record to the next and bring in dream returns crumble Opel Quarter by quarter the market shares.
For almost 20 years, the traditional Hessian company writes losses. The unique feature of Opel is the everlasting austerity.
The group has often threatened to do so, observes Matthias Deschamp’s review. In 2009, the proud Opel employee experienced about one of these near-death experiences. This is still remembered today by the “Merkel Boulevard”, explains Deschamps at the main plant in Rüsselsheim and points to a production line. Here is Chancellor Angela Merkel then walked along, have been explained how the Opel Insignia is built and secured the employees on the tape their help.
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There has always been no shortage of advocates for the group. “But something has to happen to secure the future for us and our children,” says Deschamps dryly. And so wrestle works council and senior managers of Opel and the French parent company PSA (Peugeot, Citroen) this Tuesday again for the future of the car maker.
In the so-called “Einigungsstelle”, management demands wage cuts and layoffs, while employees demand compliance with collective bargaining agreements and a sustainable restructuring plan with firm commitments for models, products and investments beyond the year 2020.
Rüsselsheim carmaker: Opel relies on temporary workers – and thus incensed the IG Metall
Hot spirits meet each other. On the one hand, PSA personnel chief Xavier Chéreau, on the other, Opel works council chairman Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug.
The outcome of the meeting is open. But the talks fail again this time – it’s the 16th round in the settlement since the beginning of the year – wants the union IG metal to call for demonstrations. In short: let the dispute escalate and enforce a concession of the Opel and PSA management on the road.
It’s a cultural fight. Since Opel got a new owner with PSA almost a year ago and thus the end of the increasingly agonizing era of Rüsselsheimer under the regency of General Motors (GM) came to an end, the sound is audibly different.
Anyone who wants to survive in the highly competitive automotive world must act in a “Darwinian” way, propagandises PSA boss Carlos Tavares. His corporate philosophy can be reduced to the simple formula: “maximum pressure”.
PSA wants to use synergies in its plants
Productivity and efficiency are in the foreground. German participation is not very well received by the French. “We can produce tons of documents, but we must not confuse transparency and management,” Tavares warned. The fact that the works council and IG Metall want to play an active part in the rehabilitation according to German traditions is perceived as corporatist in Paris.
The IG-Metall meanwhile railed against the practiced by PSA “capitalism pure”. The unionists are increasingly convinced that the French are playing for time and deliberately confuse the workforce in order to get rid of as many employees as possible by means of partial retirement and severance pay programs.
Experts also see the recent restructuring measures at Opel critical. Although automotive professor Ferdinand Dudenhöffer is convinced that PSA boss Tavares can make the Rüsselsheim subsidiary profitable again with many “golden handshakes”. But: “This degenerates Opel to a PSA shell,” explains Dudenhöffer. The factories in Eisenach and Kaiserslautern, and especially many of the 7,000 engineers in the development center in Rüsselsheim, would not be needed for the PSA business model.
No question: Since the French are Opel at the helm, things are fundamentally different. But not necessarily for the worse, finds Matthias Deschamps: “At Opel is now much more train in it”. The man with the French surname and the Hessian accent works since 1985 at Opel. He started as an electrical engineer in the press shop. Today, Deschamps is responsible for internal and external training.
Comment: A painful renovation is the last chance for Opel
The shirt with Opel logo on the chest has put the lower lip beard in his jeans. The sleeves are rolled up. “We bring in a lot of work from the outside back to save costs,” says Deschamps while he strolls through the final assembly. Stored Opel under the roof of GM Many work on service providers, the car maker under the ownership of PSA now goes the other way.
“PSA goes into the processes, down to the last detail,” explains Deschamps. “It has never been like that”. One of the major cost levers here is the changeover from nine to only two platforms on which Opel produces its various models.
Reducing complexity is now a top priority at Opel. Instead of a good two dozen steering wheel models, which were still under GM, there are now not even a handful. In windshields and many other parts show a similar picture, so Deschamps.
But what is left of Opel, if PSA has implemented its rehabilitation concept? It is conceivable that someday in Kaiserslautern or Rüsselsheim Peugeot– or Citroen models roll off the line.
PSA wants to use synergies in its plants and relies on the principle of cross-manufacturing. But can the Opelans really imagine making French cars once? Then stifle not the brand Opel final, as critics fear. “As long as we have work, that’s not important to me,” says Deschamps pragmatically. He and his colleagues remain convinced that the past has a future.
However, Opel is also an industry unicum here. While other automakers like Daimler, BMW or Porsche celebrate their history in opulent museums, hide the Rüsselsheimer many of their most extraordinary bodies from the past decades in the basement of a building below the factory grounds.
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