Car supplier Bosch to cut working hours at two German locations

Automotive supplier Bosch is planning to cut working hours at two German plants due to a shortage of chips.

"Currently, we are prioritizing everything to serve our customers and to avoid or minimize production restrictions," a Bosch spokesman said.

However, he said that at the company's plants in Ansbach and Salzgitter, production disruptions are occurring due to the undersupply of components for electronic parts.

To respond flexibly to this, the company has applied for a subsidized government furlough scheme known as short-time work for the two locations, the spokesman confirmed.

Short-time work is a scheme whereby workers are sent home by a company in financial distress, but do not lose their jobs; Meanwhile, the government pays a percentage of their salary.

In Salzgitter, this arrangement could be used for about 300 to 400 of the approximately 1,300 employees if needed. At the Ansbach site, up to about 650 of the roughly 2,500 employees could be affected at peak times.

The extent to which the world's largest automotive supplier headquartered in Gerlingen near the south-western city of Stuttgart will use this "proven instrument" in the coming weeks depends on "production planning and the further development of the bottleneck situation for electronic components," the spokesman said. Bosch produces electronic control units at both locations.

Cause: Supply problems at Nexperia

Behind to the move is supply problems at the chip manufacturer Nexperia, after the Dutch government took control of the company, which is led by a Chinese parent corporation. In response, China halted the export of Nexperia products such as chips for the automotive industry.