Plastics profile manufacturer Deceuninck (Hooglede-Gits / Belgium; www.deceuninck.com) has announced additional, accelerated cost saving measures at an extraordinary works council meeting. The initiative aims to bring its cost structure in line with the fall in demand in house building. The company recently announced a 13.3% year-on-year fall in volume sales in the fourth quarter of 2008 – see Plasteurope.com of 19.01.2009 – and said that the trend has continued through the first weeks of 2009.

The measures will provide annualised cost savings of up to EUR 25m, including cost savings resulting from existing fixed cost saving projects. The new measures include a worldwide reduction of 195 indirect jobs (compared with the level at the end of September 2008), of which 28 in Belgium. The implementation began in 2008 and indirect labour reduction is now partially finished and will be continued in the near future.

Volume-based costs reductions have been accelerated to adapt to changing market circumstances. Since September 2008 the worldwide use of temporary labour has been significantly reduced, resulting in a fall of 150 positions between the end of September and year-end.