Automotive seat manufacturer Grammer (Amberg / Germany; www.grammer.com) expects sales to drop by up to 30% year-on-year in the first six months of 2009. Moreover, it does not currently see any indication that order volumes will return to last year's level in the near future. According to the company, the recent reduction in temporary workers and extension of short-time working – see Plasteurope.com of 23.01.2009 – are no longer sufficient to offset the fall in demand. It is therefore cutting the workforce at its German sites in Haselmühl, Kümmersbruck, Immenstetten and Amberg.

A total of 227 employees will be laid off. The company has developed a redundancy plan with representatives of the workforce and has reached agreement with the trade union on terminating its supplementary wage agreement on 31 December 2009. This should increase its flexibility to adjust capacity to future changes in market conditions, it said.

Grammer reacted swiftly to the order downturn caused by the economic crisis and has reduced its global workforce by more than 1,000 since year-end 2008, mainly outside Germany. The latest job cuts bring the total headcount reduction to nearly 2,000 (around 20%) since the beginning of the crisis.