Automotive supplier Minda Schenk Plastic Solutions (Esslingen / Germany; www.schenk-ps.de), a German subsidiary of the Spark Minda, Ashok Minda Group (Noida / India; www.minda.co.in), filed for insolvency at the end of November 2013. Esslingen's local court has appointed Dr. Wolfgang Bilgery from the law firm Grub Brugger (Stuttgart / Germany; www.grub-brugger.de) to act as administrator for the filing.

Meanwhile, management, led by company head Günter Kiefer, wants to use the insolvency process as an opportunity to undergo a restructuring to sustain the German entity. Future investments by the parent company are to be channeled to the – "healthy" – Schenk affiliate Kunststofftechnik Sachsen GmbH & Co KG (KTSN, Pirna / Germany; www.ktsn.de), according to company information.

The Schenk insolvency impacts all 429 employees a three German production sites in Esslingen, Hemhofen and Köngen. In addition, a Czech Schenk subsidiary in Liberec, Minda Schenk Plastic Solutions sro, which employs a workforce of about 150, which prior to the filing had not been directly impacted by German developments, is, as a subordinate entity, now part of the insolvency. Schenk's product offering includes interior panelling for automobiles as well as technical parts and assemblies for electric and motor-driven machines.

Minda acquired the former Schenk Plastic Solutions back in 2008, pulling it from a previous insolvency filing – see Plasteurope.com of 20.06.2008. Yet, despite "numerous investments over the last three years" the Indians were unable to cut back quickly enough on overcapacities in a tough market situation. Additional measures, which included a change in the leadership at the end of 2012 and more recently discussions with a potential investor proved to be no solution for the ailing Swabian company. Revenues for the previous fiscal year were around EUR 80m.

Poland's Minda Schenk Plastic Solutions spzoo in Bydgoszcz, with 130 employees, belongs to the Pirna affiliate, KTSN, and, according to a Minda spokeswoman, is not affected by the insolvency filing. The East German company is about half the size of the Esslingen group, achieving sales from a similar product portfolio – primarily interior automotive components and parts – and had revenues of roughly EUR 44m in 2012.

The Minda Group, with 29 production sites primarily in Asia and Europe and a global workforce of 12,000, recorded revenues of EUR 400m for fiscal year 2011/12.