Dark clouds are gathering over the Knoll mechanical engineering company. The owner-managed family business based in Bad Saulgau has had roots in the location for more than 50 years. In recent years, the general conditions on the market have changed noticeably and negatively. Around a year ago, the company announced that around 30 percent of the workforce was affected by short-time work. Now a press release announces further consequences.
Fewer orders, declining sales
The mechanical engineering company’s business is influenced by geopolitical developments, the structural crisis in the automotive industry and unfavorable political conditions, which, according to Knoll, is reflected in lower incoming orders, declining sales and rising costs.
The company is currently not expecting any significant improvement in the coming years. Against this background, the management sees its responsibility in stabilizing the company in a forward-looking manner and gearing it towards full employment.
Part of the strategic realignment also involves adjusting the workforce to the reduced order volume. The company currently employs around 1,100 people at its headquarters in Bad Saulgau. Around 140 jobs in production and administration are to be cut by December. The company wants to organize this process “responsibly in close coordination with employee representatives,” according to the press release.
“We have to react to the persistently weak economy and adapt our personnel capacity to economic developments. We have therefore started a volunteer program in close coordination with the works council. It opens up various support offers for colleagues as well as opportunities for professional reorientation and qualification. The aim is to avoid redundancies for operational reasons,” says Managing Director Matthias Knoll.
Realignment is a “great opportunity”
“At the same time, we continue to make targeted investments in future-proof areas and are constantly examining how we can make our company even more efficient and customer-oriented. We see the realignment as a great opportunity to get back on the road to success and to position ourselves in a future-proof manner at the Bad Saulgau location,” explains Managing Director Jürgen Knoll. “With responsibility for our employees and their families, we want to remain a healthy and independent family business.”
The company’s announcement continues: “For the first time in the company’s history, we are reducing our workforce for economic reasons. This decision is bitter for us both personally and commercially and is very difficult for us,” emphasizes Matthias Knoll.
This decision is bitter for us both personally and as a business and is very difficult for us.
Managing Director Matthias Knoll
The entire process is designed and implemented in close coordination with the works council. According to the press release, management and the works council informed the employees at a works meeting on Tuesday.
“We are aware of what this step means for affected employees, people with whom we have been working together for many years. This makes it all the more important for us to have an open, respectful and transparent approach. The goal is a fair, orderly process with the greatest possible planning security for everyone involved,” says Matthias Knoll.
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Chairman of the works council is confident
Based on his many years of experience, the works council chairman Peter Widmann trusts in “a clear and humanely appreciative path”. He also commented on this in the press release: “Even if we as the works council do not represent the same position as the management on all issues, we always manage to find viable solutions together. The cooperation is constructive and reliable – and the employees have always been able to rely on promises from the management and the works council.”
