Conti To Cut 20,000 Jobs, Close 2 U.S. Plants

Continental AG is launching a 10-year restructuring plan that will eliminate as many as 20,000 employees and shutter two factories in the U.S. 

The €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) effort, dubbed Transformation 2019-2029, is expected to deliver savings of €500 million ($549 million) per year by 2023. Conti currently employs some 244,000 people worldwide.

Conti says the overhaul will trim the company’s current global workforce by 8%, including an 11% reduction to 55,000 in Germany. The company also expects to add an unspecified number of new jobs in the software sector.

In the U.S., Conti will shut down a hydraulic brake system plant in Henderson, N.C., and by 2024 close a hydraulic components factory in Newport News, Va. The facilities currently employ a combined 1,400 people.

In Europe, Conti will shutter hydraulics component plants in Roding and Limbach-Oberfrohna, Germany, and Pisa, Italy. The company says 1,700 jobs will be eliminated and 1,000 reassigned.

In Malaysia, Conti also will close a truck tire plant in Petaling Jaya by the end of this year, eliminating 270 jobs.