— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

In view of the difficult environment facing the European automotive supply industry, ZKW (Wieselburg, Austria; www.zkw-group.com) is planning to take drastic measures. The headlight and electronics specialist has announced plans to reduce its global workforce by almost a quarter. Specifically, around 2,300 jobs are to be cut by the end of 2027 – in 2024, the company employed around 10,000 people.

“The crisis in the automotive industry is one of the strongest drivers of the current situation,” said CEO Wonyong Hwang. “We must now respond to the decline in sales and orders as well as the weaker sales forecasts in order to secure the long-term future of our company.” The industry is struggling with high cost pressure, declining earnings, and gloomy sales prospects.

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The job cuts are expected to affect all locations and will be carried out in several stages. In its home country of Austria, 600 employees are expected to lose their jobs. ZKW intends to offer the affected employees a voluntary social plan. The company, which has been part of the LG Group (Seoul, South Korea; www.lgchem.com), has plants in Austria (Wieselburg and Wiener Neustadt), Slovakia (Krušovce), the Czech Republic (Olomouc and Vratimov), Mexico (Silao), the US (Troy, Michigan), India (Bahadurgarh, Haryana), South Korea (Incheon), and China (Dalian, Liaoning and Shanghai). Total sales in 2024 amounted to around EUR 1.55 bn.