Deposition equipment maker Aixtron SE of Herzogenrath, near Aachen, Germany says that, in continuing with its reorganization (as part of its 5-Point Program to return to sustainable profitability, launched in May 2013), it plans to cut about 60 of approximately 800 jobs across the group.
Additionally, the firm will further adapt its organizational structure in line with customer and market requirements. Alongside cost-cutting measures, Aixtron is pursuing new market opportunities, for example with its new AIX R6 metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) product generation for high-volume manufacturing of gallium nitride (GaN) high-brightness light-emitting diodes (HB-LEDs), and in promising future business fields such as power and logic semiconductors as well as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) - areas that are strengthened through the reorganization, reckons the firm.
“Customer needs are evolving. The focus is increasingly on process and user-oriented solutions while we are executing our productivity programs in all areas of the company,” says chief operating officer Dr Bernd Schulte. Aixtron adds that, by reducing staffing, it is accounting for these factors and for its previously defined objective of reducing operating costs.
“Letting employees go is never easy. As management, however, we have a responsibility for the whole company,” comments CEO Martin Goetzeler. “Having reduced the executive board to two members in the mid of last year already should be viewed in the same light.”
Aixtron will present its financial results for 2014 and provide an outlook for the 2015 on 24 February.
