Press release [PDF; 25 KB]
Press release [RTF; 38 KB]
Stuttgart, September 24, 2008—The two production plants of MAHLE Filtersysteme France SAS in Persan and Seboncourt who produce filters for the automotive industry are actually confronted with a decline of produced volumes and decreasing prices, combined with an increase of costs for materials, energy, and transportation.
In order to face the decline of production activity, some measures had already been taken, such as efforts to reduce costs and to advance competitiveness.
Furthermore, short-time work was introduced in Seboncourt during the last months. As the economic situation and the customer orders did not improve – French automobile manufacturers are producing ever less vehicles in France – this short-time work is likely to continue, after consultation with the local work council.
In order to retain competitiveness in a strong competitive context where pressure from low-cost countries is increasing, MAHLE Group is forced to plan a reorganization of the Seboncourt plant and an industrial disengagement at the Persan plant, where 133 persons are employed.
In conformity to French legislation, the employee representatives will be informed and consulted about these projects during the coming weeks, before any decision in this context will be taken.
The MAHLE Group is one of the 30 largest companies in the automotive supply industry worldwide. As a leading manufacturer of components and systems for the combustion engine and related products, MAHLE ranks among the top 3 systems suppliers for piston systems, cylinder components, valve train systems, air management systems, and liquid management systems. MAHLE employs around 48,000 people at 110 production plants and eight research and development centers. In 2007, MAHLE achieved sales of over EUR 5 billion (USD 7.5 billion).