Siempelkamp to cut 350 jobs in Germany

Feb 12, 2016. /Lesprom Network/. Siempelkamp will eliminate a total of 350 jobs in Germany in 2016 and 2017, company announced. With this move, Siempelkamp is reacting to new competitive situations, and to the weakening of originally strong markets such as Russia and Brazil.

In recent years, Siempelkamp has consistently been expanding its manufacturing facilities internationally in the Czech Republic and China. The global network of sales and service companies is also a component of this internationalisation process. The new large-scale manufacturing site in Qingdao, China, which went operational in October 2015, will in future be used much more intensively for producing large-scale parts for press manufacturing. "We will produce where our customers are," emphasised Dr Hans Fechner, Spokesperson of the Executive Management at G. Siempelkamp GmbH & Co. KG, on 12 February 2016, at a press conference in Krefeld. "Furthermore, we will significantly expand our production facility in Blatnice, Czech Republic, in order to continue being able to produce at competitive prices in future."

With these actions, Siempelkamp will consolidate and expand its market position and techno-logical leadership in future, particularly in the wood-based panel and metal forming industry, company said in a statement. This includes in particular the expansion of business activities in the future market of China.

In addition to increasing the value of foreign production locations, Siempelkamp will additionally be sustainably strengthening the German location: at the Bad Kreuznach location, a modern logistics and service centre is being created for supplying replacement parts globally to Siempelkamp customers.

Siempelkamp headquarters in Krefeld, Germany