Mikron reacts to the low demand from the automotive industry

The market environment was already proving highly challenging at the end of 2019. Machine orders declined further in the wake of the corona crisis. It is currently not possible to judge when demand for machines will recover. Mikron is assuming that the automotive industry will remain very hesitant about investing over the longer term too. Demand from other market segments is likely to pick up again in the medium term. “The Mikron Group management is very regrettably obliged to react to the new market conditions and to the long-term fall-off in demand from the automotive industry and, together with employee representatives and social partners, to initiate the envisaged process of staff cutbacks at the machine manufacturing site in Agno. Management is currently working on the assumption that up to 110 jobs are affected by this measure,” the company writes in an update. Mikron says it took extensive steps early on to protect employees against the coronavirus and also follows the cantonal requirements. These actions will remain in place as far as necessary and are constantly being adapted. Near-term surplus capacity owing to the coronavirus is still being offset by short-time working. The Mikron Group continues to stand by its machine manufacturing site in Agno. Further headway is being made with the successful market launch of the new Mikron MultiX machine generation. The other Mikron Group companies in Switzerland (Mikron Tool Agno and Mikron Automation Boudry) are not affected by the capacity adjustments. However, it is also impossible to predict the impact of the coronavirus on these companies. In parallel to capacity adjustments at the machine manufacturing site in Agno, Mikron has also made initial capacity adjustments at the machine manufacturing and automation sites in Germany and in some cases introduced short-time working.