At the Audi plant in Ingolstadt, some bands will be shut down at night in the future. The automaker intends to convert its production partly from a three-shift system to a two-shift operation and will cancel one of its three-night shifts as of May 1st. That confirmed on Tuesday, a company spokesman. Affected is accordingly the assembly line 1, on which the Audimodelle A4 and A5 are mounted at night. The day shift should be clocked faster in return. The aim is to save by the elimination of the shift a two-digit million amount.
Regret from this step is to be heard from the Audi works council. Night shifts mean employees’ incomes have risen by 30 percent so far – money; many of them can not and do not want to do without. Some employees have been working night shifts for years. According to the company, the move affects about 450 people working directly on the assembly line, as well as an indefinite number of employees from adjacent areas. With them, first individual interviews are held to find solutions.
Bram Schot wants a savings program at the management level
Audi is suffering a lot. The VW subsidiary sold only 1.8 million cars in the past year, falling behind rivals Mercedes and BMW. In all markets, sales fell for the carmaker: in Europe, in the USA, and China. The carmaker still has big problems with the new emission regulations (“WLTP”). Many vehicles are built, but can not sell because the license is missing. Sales also fell to 59.2 billion euros. Operating profit plummeted by 24 percent to 3.53 billion euros.
To save money, the new Audi CEO Bram Schot wants to enforce, among other things, a savings program at the management level. At least ten percent of the approximately two and a half thousand executives should go in the coming years. The savings potential should be in the low tens of millions.
Another problem for Audi: The Ingolstadt location has recently lost importance in the VW universe. Once regarded as the place where innovation takes place in the company, the factory has fallen behind its reputation. Meanwhile, the Ingolstadt are even far behind in terms of productivity in the factories. In Ingolstadt 2019 originally about half a million cars should be made – now one expects significantly fewer vehicles. Add to that the scratches in the image: Since the diesel scandal has become increasingly clear that Audi has been something of “the mother of fraud,” the culture had finally expired, say Audian.
