The temporary contracts will not be extended in the period December to May next year. “The decision not to extend a number of temporary contracts has to do with the budgets for next year,” says plant manager Robby Stas of Alro in Dilsen-Stokkem. “We see the volume of orders for truck builders declining. But we hope that the market will recover soon. In that case, people who we now have to let go will still be able to work here again.”
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Alro International is a specialist in painting parts for car and truck manufacturers. The group consists of branches in Dilsen-Stokkem, where the head office is also located, in Genk and Trnava in Slovakia. In total, almost a thousand people work for the group. The temporary contracts will not be extended only in Dilsen-Stokkem. About 500 people work there.
Investment
Last year the stars were much more favorable for Alro International. A multi-million investment in an additional coating line in Dilsen-Stokkem was then completed, immediately doubling the coating capacity. The company wanted to respond to the growing fleet of electric vehicles. In the meantime, market conditions have apparently turned around.
“Two important Alro customers, DAF Trucks and Volvo Trucks, have reduced their expectations for 2024 by a quarter,” says union secretary Glenn Schreurs of ACV Metea. “It remains to be seen whether this measure will be sufficient to absorb the expected decline in volumes. We have no insight into that yet.”
READ ALSO: Alro looks to the future with doubling capacity
To lose
Alro Group today works for most major car brands, from Audi and BMW to Mercedes, Porsche and Volkswagen. Truck manufacturers such as DAF, Scania, Mercedes, Renault and Volvo are also Alro customers.
The Alro International group, founded in the mid-1970s by entrepreneur Luc Thijs, came into the hands of the Flemish investment company Gimv in 2019, which acquired a substantial majority stake, and its management. But the group’s financial results have deteriorated significantly since then. Due to the successive losses of millions, the group’s equity was more than 8 million euros negative in 2022, according to the data from the holding company Alro International in the reference book VKW Top 500. The group’s cash flow (net profit plus depreciation) remains positive. .
Bosch
The Alro International group is not the only automotive supplier that is having difficulties. German technology group Bosch is cutting up to 1,500 jobs in its division that supplies parts to car manufacturers. The jobs are being lost in Germany and in the branch of the car division that makes drive systems for cars. An important factor is the rise of electric cars. They generally have much simpler drive systems than classic cars with a combustion engine. This means fewer parts are needed and Bosch feels that.
Bosch’s automotive division also has a branch in Tienen, where windshield wipers are made. It has been in a shrinking scenario for some time now.
READ ALSO: There are 248 voluntary redundancies at Bosch in Tienen