Stuttgart – This was a major blow to mechanical engineering in Germany. A long-established company announces massive layoffs. Hundreds of jobs will be lost.
EMAG GmbH & Co. KG from Salach (Baden-Württemberg) had to take drastic savings measures. The company was founded in 1867 and specializes in machine tools for Automotive industry and other mechanical engineers.
A total of 455 jobs will be lost at locations in Germany – almost one in three jobs will have to be cut! The company announced this. According to IG Metall Göppingen-Geislingen, 300 of these layoffs alone affected the head office in Salach.
The second job was terminated within a short period of time
Just last year it happened Chase 124 employees were laid off there. In recent months, mechanical engineers have tried to address this with as short-term and as extensive a job as possible unemployment employee. It doesn’t seem to work. According to “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”, even long-serving department heads are said to be affected by layoffs.
EMAG GmbH & Co head office. KG at Salach in Baden-Württemberg
EMAG currently employs around 1,500 people in Germany and 2,493 people worldwide. In 2022, sales reached 472.7 million euros.
How the austerity measures came about
The reason for the massive workforce reduction was due to years of sluggish orders. According to the Association of German Machine Tool Manufacturers (VDW) The industry reported a decline in incoming orders for the third year in a row: 2023 minus eleven percent, 2024 minus 19 percent, and semester I 2025 minus five percent. In Germany, the decline in the first half of 2025 will be around 17 percent, according to VDW. Things aren’t looking any better internationally either: new American tariffs, a weak economy in China, and hesitant investment in Europe are putting pressure on the business world.
What the company boss said
Markus Clement, CEO of EMAG Group, explains Termination like this: “The current market situation forces us to make difficult but necessary decisions.” And: “We had to adapt the organization to lower order volumes and at the same time ensure that we remained capable of action.” The aim of this action is to secure the future of the EMAG Group.
What unions say about layoffs
IG Metall was not at all satisfied with this approach. That union criticized that the works council had negotiated the layoffs without their participation. Michael Kocken, the first representative of IG Metall Göppingen-Geislingen, warned: “Anyone who fights alone in this crisis risks not only social difficulties, but also the confidence of the workforce.”
Employees are informed about the negotiated social plans. “Feedback from affected members indicates that this social plan relies solely on the transfer company. There are no plans to provide severance pay to those affected,” the union said.
