OREANDA-NEWS. September 04, 2012. Due to continuing weak orders at ThyssenKrupp Nirosta GmbH short-time working is being introduced from September 2012. This will affect the Bochum site (Germany), which employs 456 people. The other sites of ThyssenKrupp Nirosta are not affected by short-time working. This has been agreed between the works council and the company, reported the press-centre of ThyssenKrupp.

In recent weeks, the lower operating levels were initially offset using instruments such as flexible working time accounts, leave accounts and repair shifts. As things stand at present ThyssenKrupp Nirosta expects short-time working to be used only as a short-term measure.

The activities of the Inoxum Group, part of ThyssenKrupp AG, are divided into two segments: The Stainless Steel segment stands for the worldwide production, processing and distribution of stainless steel flat products. The High Performance Alloys segment brings together the production and distribution of high-performance materials such as nickel alloys, titanium and zirconium. The Inoxum Group includes companies with plants in Germany, Italy, Mexico, China and the USA employing roughly 11,500 people. One of these companies is Krefeld-based ThyssenKrupp Nirosta GmbH, which supplies stainless steel flat products in a broad range of grades, sizes and finishes. On January 31, 2012 ThyssenKrupp AG announced the combination of Inoxum and Outokumpu, a global stainless steel corporation with headquarters in Finland. The combination is subject to regulatory approval. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.