The result is a worldwide overcapacity which has naturally not passed unnoticed by Mayer & Cie., making it clear that the short-time working already introduced in the company would not be sufficient to fully balance capacity with the changing market situation. To safeguard the company's future, moderate staffing cuts of 8.5% - right across the job spectrum – are now inevitable at the company's Albstadt location. Much of the necessary cut-backs have been achieved through natural reductions such as fluctuation and age-related early or partial retirement schemes. The decision to go ahead with the cuts was not an easy one for the General Management, who cooperated with the workers union to draw up a voluntary redundancy scheme.
Particularly in times of dwindling sales markets, it is of decisive importance for leading circular knitting machine manufacturer Mayer & Cie. to minimize the drop in sales through gains in market share. Given this objective, Mayer & Cie. is setting particular store by the ITMA 2003 in Birmingham. In contrast to the view held by European machine manufacturers from other sectors, Mayer & Cie. is anticipating great things from the ITMA 2003 – partially also with a view to reinforcing the significance of Europe as a region manufacturing high-quality textile machinery in competition with low-cost suppliers in Asia. Mayer & Cie. will be going ahead with all of its original ambitious plans for the show, exhibiting in cooperation with subsidiaries Mayer Industries Inc. and Rüster GmbH & Co. KG as well as Merz Maschinenfabrik GmbH on an exhibition area spanning over 700 sq. m.
The exhibition promises to provide an exciting practically-oriented vision of the "future of circular knitting", Mayer & Cie.'s theme for the show, featuring an impressive array of innovative exhibits.
Mayer & Cie. is anticipating that the ITMA 2003 will provide important impetus for the future. Although it is evident that it will not be possible to match the figures of recent years in the foreseeable future, despite a recessive market Mayer & Cie. has succeeded during recent months in gaining market share in a number of different regions – making its target of increasing its world market share to 25% a highly realistic one. On this basis, the General Management will continue to approve funding for the investment necessary to not only maintain the leading standard of Mayer & Cie. circular knitting machines but optimize it still further wherever possible. This will ensure the company's ability to respond flexibly to market and customer requirements in the future.
