DUESSELDORF (Reuters) -Thyssenkrupp on Thursday fleshed out details of a restructuring programme for its challenged steel division, saying production capacity at its Duisburg site will be significantly reduced, with measures involving job cuts that cannot yet be quantified.
The steel division’s executive board said production capacities would be reduced to approximately 9 million to 9.5 million tons per year, which roughly corresponds to the shipping level of the past three years. Today production capacity at the site is designed for around 11.5 million tons.
The announcement marks the most concrete step so far in the steel business revamp, which has become necessary in light of weakening demand and brutal competition from cheaper Asian rivals.
Thyssenkrupp (ETR:) Steel Europe employs around 27,000 people, most of them at Europe’s largest steel site in Duisburg.
The streamlining measures would impact downstream processing as well as administration and service areas, the company said, adding that its goal is to continue to avoid redundancies for operational reasons.
Thyssenkrupp’s steel business, whose roots extend back more than 200 years, carries significant relevance as a symbol of Germany’s rise as an industrial power – a status that has somewhat waned in recent years.
The unit has so far been spared major restructuring moves, protected by powerful unions that have traditionally commanded great influence at the German conglomerate.
