Future of German Alstom Plant Uncertain

The future of a German factory belonging to French industrial giant Alstom is looking uncertain, two executives of Alstom's German unit Alstom Power Generation suggested in an internal communication released on Friday. "If things continue as they are, we cannot guarantee our current activities in Mannheim," executives Gerard Brunel and Udo Wunsch wrote in article in Alstom Power Generation's in-house magazine Megafon, a copy of which was obtained by news agency AFP. Alstom Power Generation, which makes power plants, employs around 2,000 people in Mannheim where employees have been given job guarantees until 2007. But a decline in orders has led to a "dangerously low" level of capacity utilization at the Mannheim-Kaefertal factory, the article said. Indeed, "according to the latest quality audit, our internal competitors in Poland are better," the executives said, calling for increased productivity and quality. (AFP)