VIENNA—Semperit A.G. is turning its focus to restructuring its Sempermed medical segment.
The rubber products maker reported a volume decrease and an impairment of $65 million at its medical unit in 2018.
The business area, which produces latex gloves, posted a 7.6 percent year-on-year decline in sales to $366 million last year. The unit also posted a loss of $4.6 million last year compared to a profit of $1.95 million in 2017.
Semperit attributed this to "unsatisfactory operating performance" and increasing "competitive and price pressures, particularly in North America."
The Vienna-based group has allocated 36 months for the reorganization measure in anticipation of "problem complexity" in its medical sector. The plan will target the structural challenges within business processes and operations from IT to product and market approach.
Semperit launched a group-wide restructuring plan at the beginning of 2018 and expects to complete it by the end of 2020.
By the end of last year, the company had identified more than 700 cross-functional and cross-segment initiatives to improve efficiency and profitability. The initiative cover a broad range of areas, including manufacturing, quality, pricing, and focused market development.
In its 2018 annual report, the company reported significant improvement in earnings, helped by positive developments in its industrial sector.
Semperit also reduced complexity in the industrial sector through the closure of production units in France and China, as well as the sale of a site in Italy.
With progress in the performance of the industrial unit, Semperit has ruled out further production optimization moves.