Scania has stopped operations at most of its European production units from Wednesday 25th March. The company explains that there are now shortages of components that go into making the trucks. There’s not point in making 95% of a new truck – who will buy it and will it be useable? In addition Scania cites the major disruptions that have occurred in the supplier and logistics chain as a result of the spread of COVID-19 in Europe. Scania’s President and CEO Henrik Henriksson says: “To ensure our customers’ vitally important transports for society, our service workshops and parts centres will continue their operations.” At present, Scania expects to resume production within two weeks. Scania staff directly affected by the planned production shutdown are employees at the group’s plants in Sweden, the Netherlands and France.
Scania is in close dialogue with the union representatives in order to jointly address the situation.
“The management and employee representatives both highly appreciate the state support measures that are now being made available in the countries where our staff now temporarily will lack work,” says Henriksson.
Scania’s industrial operations in Latin America, which account for about one-fifth of the company’s production volume, will still continue as planned.
