SKF Trims Ball Bearing Operations In France

The ball bearing plant in Fontenay-Le-Comte, southwest France, will be restructured and approximately 150 workers laid off. SKF said the move is necessary as the plant's customers relocate from traditionally high-cost Western European manufacturing centers to new facilities in lower-cost locations across Eastern Europe and Asia. Customers for SKF-SVR include Bosch, Electrolux, Siemens, Whirlpool and others on the electrical appliance product side; Ferrari, Ford, Mitsubishi, Honda and others on the automotive side; and Bosch and Black & Decker on the industrial side. Over 80% of the plant's production ships within Europe, 15% to Asia, and less than 5% to North America. As its customers relocate, they have been successfully demanding that key product vendors such as SKF follow suit and establish local supply operations. As demand shifts away, the only option is to shrink the affected operations. Brought online in 1971, the 25,000 square meter (270,000 square feet) Fontenay-Le-Comte Soci¨¦t¨¦ Vend¨¦enne de Roulements (SVR) plant manufactures high-volume 28mm through 52mm OD ball bearings. In recent years, SKF-SVR had been running at or near capacity, producing more than 700,000 bearings every day.