Bombardier Sets Course for the Future With New European
Passenger-Vehicle Manufacturing Network Strategy
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--NOVEMBER 13, 2001 - 06:11 EST
Bombardier Transportation today announced plans
for implementing its new European passenger-vehicle manufacturing
network strategy. This plan, which is part of an overall strategy,
calls for concentrating capital intensive activities into
specialized plants, thus ensuring greater stability of workload
while maintaining final assembly presence in a large number of
European countries. This reorganization will mostly occur in
Germany, Sweden as well as the United Kingdom and entails the
closure of three plants and the conversion of two manufacturing
plants to service facilities.
Following the acquisition of Adtranz last May, Bombardier
Transportation undertook an extensive analysis of all its
production sites and services activities in Europe in order to
determine the most efficient use of its assets with regards to
market needs. This detailed evaluation was based on three
objective criteria: commercial importance and existing obligations
of each site; economic evaluation and existing capacity along with
staffing levels. Technical skills, know-how and expertise of the
workforce within the organization were also assessed.
As a result, bogie, carbody and light rail vehicle manufacturing
will be concentrated in dedicated sites. Activities related to
final assembly of vehicles will be assigned to specific
facilities. Certain plants like Västerås in Sweden will be
dedicated to Services. (See Appendices 1 and 2 for details).
Manufacturing plants located in Ammendorf (850 employees) and in
Vetschau (110 employees) in Germany along with the services centre
located in Doncaster (150 employees) in the United Kingdom are
earmarked to cease their activities. In most cases, affected
employees will be offered alternative employment, although not
necessarily at their current work locations. The new program will
be implemented essentially over the next year. Negotiations with
social partners in the respective countries will be initiated
shortly.
During a press conference held in Berlin, Bombardier
Transportation President and Chief Operating Officer Pierre Lortie
stated that "although Bombardier and Adtranz were - and are - an
excellent fit from a market-coverage, product-portfolio and
technology perspective we still need to work relentlessly towards
creating, for the long term, a truly competitive organization
which can best leverage our combined strengths, offer a solid
future and provide sustainable opportunities for employees." Mr.
Lortie added "we are well positioned to maintain our global market
leadership. We believe that transit systems along with the
maintenance/service sector will experience rapid growth. Moreover,
the confidence customers have shown us since the acquisition of
Adtranz on May 1, 2001 will also enable us to dampen the impact of
the restructuring on our workforce."
The costs involved with the implementation of the European
manufacturing network strategy are part of the special
restructuring charge of CDN $ 180 million announced by the
Corporation on September 26, 2001 or are part of the purchase
equation of Adtranz.
Bombardier Transportation is the global leader in the rail
equipment, manufacturing and servicing industry. Its wide range of
products includes passenger rail vehicles and complete rail
transportation systems. It also manufactures locomotives, freight
cars, propulsion & controls and provides signaling equipment and
systems.
Bombardier Inc., a diversified manufacturing and service company,
is a world leading manufacturer of business jets, regional
aircraft, rail transportation equipment and motorized recreational
products. It is also a provider of financial services and asset
management. The Corporation employs 79,000 people in 24 countries
in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific and its revenues for its
fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2001 totalled $16.1 billion Cdn.
APPENDIX 1
European passenger-vehicle manufacturing facilities
Bogies: There will be three core (3) bogie sites to serve all of
Europe and the export markets. These are Siegen (Germany), Derby
(UK) and Crespin (France).
Carbodies: The manufacturing of aluminum and steel carbodies for
passenger cars in Europe will be concentrated in Bautzen and
Görlitz (Germany), Kalmar (Sweden), Derby (UK), Crespin (France)
and Bruges (Belgium). We are also considering Amadora in Portugal
to respond to additional capacity requirements.
Final assembly: The following plants will be final assembly core
sites:
/T/
Aachen and Hennigsdorf (Germany)
Derby (UK)
Crespin (France)
Brugge (Belgium)
Kalmar (Sweden)
Amadora (Portugal)
Pratteln (Switzerland)
/T/
Specialized Facilities: In addition, certain sites have been
assigned specialized mandates. This is the case for Vienna in
Austria and Bautzen in Germany for LRV and Görlitz for German
double-deck trains. The site in Ceska Lipa, Czech Republic will be
a supplier of primary parts and welding substructures while the
bogie facility in Pafawag, Poland will develop into a supplier of
bogie frames. Wakefield will continue doing some final assembly
but will gradually grow into the refurbishment business. Randers,
(Denmark) has a special mandate for the S-Train Copenhagen and
Villeneuve (Switzerland) for the Nina II vehicles.
Other manufacturing facilities remain dedicated to their current
respective missions: Locomotives and Freight, Propulsion &
Controls, Services and Signaling
APPENDIX 2
Specific plans for sites in Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden
* Germany
It is intended to close the site located in Ammendorf in the
second half of 2002. These production activities have been
subjected to under-utilization for several years. The carbody
manufacturing is planned to go to Bautzen while final assembly and
testing will be concentrated in Hennigsdorf. Employees will be
offered alternative jobs in other sites.
It is intended to close the Vetschau plant in the second half of
2002, due to overlapping activities with the Siegen site and the
absence of needed critical mass. Bombardier Transportation aims to
offer all employees a job either in Siegen, Görlitz or Bautzen,
where production is scheduled to ramp up.
The site in Siegen is Bombardier Transportation European center of
competence for bogies with responsibility for the entire
value-added chain from R&D, from manufacturing to testing and
commissioning. It will get an increased workload due to the
transfer of activities from Vetschau and the growth of activity in
Europe.
In the Hennigsdorf plant, the final assembly as well as testing
and commissioning activities shall be expanded. Electrical
components are expected to move to the FAGA plant in
Berlin-Marzahn. The carbody manufacturing activities would phase
out at the end of 2003. It is planned that most of the affected
employees will either go to final assembly at Hennigsdorf or move
to FAGA in Berlin-Marzahn. Their workload will stabilize by
receiving the electrical component scope from Hennigsdorf.
Overall, the employment at Hennigsdorf will remain at about the
same level.
Kassel is the German hub site for locomotives. At the same time,
Bautzen is planned to specialize in the production of light rail
vehicles as well as in steel carbody manufacturing. Bombardier
Transportation intends to concentrate double-decker vehicle
manufacturing and both steel and aluminum carbody manufacturing in
Görlitz. Aachen will continue to assemble double-deck vehicles for
the Dutch market as well as the Talent regional train. Mannheim
remains the German hub site for Propulsion.
* United Kingdom
In Derby, it is planned to shift bogie production from Derby Pride
Park to Derby Carriage and the wheelset activities from Derby
Carriage to the Crewe plant which is already producing wheelsets.
It is intended to close the service site in Doncaster and to
transfer the refurbishment activities to Wakefield. Bombardier
Transportation intends to offer all employees in Doncaster new
jobs either in Wakefield or at other Bombardier facilities.
* Sweden
It is planned that Kalmar will become a core site in the European
manufacturing network. Therefore, final assembly activities shall
be moved from Västerås to Kalmar. Testing and commissioning of
vehicles will remain in Västerås. In turn Västerås is expected to
become a Service facility for Sweden. |
