SRAM Announces Major Restructuring in Schweinfurt

SCHWEINFURT, Germany (December 11) - SRAM announces a major restructuring of its facility in Schweinfurt, Germany. The component maker is planning to lay off 161 employees during a restructuring period that will take place over a 2 to 3 year period. SRAM has taken this step due to the continued deterioration in the bike market, and the erosion of prices. The move should secure SRAM Germany in a competitive position for the long term. With the restructuring of the Schweinfurt facility, SRAM is planning to reduce its workforce that is directly involved in the production of (mainly) hub gears with about 50%. Currently there are about 355 people working in the German factory of whom about 60 are involved in R&D and product development. The redundancies will not lead to a downsizing of the Schweinfurt production capacity, which is about 1.8 million hub gears per year. Yesterday SRAM President and CEO Stan Day proposed to the Work Council of the German factory to move the production of certain parts from Schweinfurt to outside suppliers, and to focus the manufacturing activities on assembly. According to Day, the benefit of this move is to substantially reduce costs and increase flexibility. The restructuring will not affect Schweinfurt's activities in R&D and product development. Stan Day stated: "We will continue to aggressively invest in product innovation. There are no job losses planned in this area. The decision to initiate this magnitude of restructuring was very difficult. It is especially difficult in that the employees at our Schweinfurt facility have a long history, are highly productive and very committed. SRAM will work with the Work Council and the Union to minimize the impact of the restructuring and to be fair to all involved. Moving forward, final assembly and product development will be the foundation of our German facility. We are confident with the changes and cost savings identified by this restructuring that we will maintain our strong competitive position."(JO)