Manufacturer Gehring Group’s management has declared insolvency. The long-time supplier of honing machines for the world's leading car manufacturers ran into insurmountable financial difficulties, despite its innovative addition of key motor parts production for electric cars.
“The protracted crisis in the automotive industry has severely curtailed our customers’ investment plans. Since the beginning of 2018, orders for honing machines have declined dramatically. Electric motors clearly represent the future, but even though Gehring has just won a contract for almost 10 million euros, given the market development, it does not make up for the company’s financial loss,” said Tomáš Šusták, Penta manager responsible for this investment. The difficulties associated with the crisis in the automotive industry further exacerbated the complications associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. The company’s management sought to temporarily stabilize the situation with other types of contracts. In April of this year, Gehring won the tender announced by the German government for the production of FFP2 masks worth 24 million euros. “However, stopgap production cannot replace Gehring’s key business,” concluded Tomáš Šusták.
Penta became the owner of Gehring Technologies Holding GmbH in 2012. After successfully restructuring, Penta had wanted to sell it, but eventually decided instead to merge it with copperING and expand the company’s production portfolio with machines that can use innovative technology to produce a lighter and more powerful electric motor stator. The company, which today employs 750 people, has manufacturing facilities in Germany, the USA and China, as well as a number of service centres around the world.