German robotics company Kuka now plans to cut a total of 560 jobs
Kuka now plans to cut around 560 jobs due to missing orders in the hundreds of millions. The Bavarian state wants to help.
(Image: Kuka)
The German robotics company Kuka, headquartered in Augsburg, Bavaria, plans to cut more jobs than previously announced. Instead of the 400 employees announced so far, 560 out of a total of approximately 3200 employees at the Augsburg site will now lose their jobs. A company spokesperson announced this. The job cuts are mainly in robot production, with a small part in administration. The reason for the job cuts is the lack of new orders.
Kuka struggled with significant order backlogs of more than 100 million euros in 2026, the company states, as the reason for the expanded job cuts. The company had already begun to gradually cut 400 jobs at the beginning of 2025. 300 of these were in production, and 100 in the holding company, which is also based in Augsburg. The cuts were to be implemented in a socially responsible manner by the end of 2026. The company had drawn up a social plan for this purpose.
Poor order situation and competition from the Far East
The job cuts now additionally announced result from the currently tense, poor market situation, especially in the automotive industry. Demand for industrial robots has therefore fallen sharply, with new orders amounting to 100 million euros missing in 2025 alone. The robotics company is therefore producing fewer robots, so employees have to be laid off. At the same time, competition from Asia is also increasing. Kuka itself is owned by the Chinese Midea Group.
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In addition to layoffs, it is also possible to outsource jobs “for certain areas” to Hungary to reduce costs, according to Kuka CEO Christoph Shell according to Augsburger Allgemeine. Approximately 1500 people already work for the company in Hungary.
As the Augsburger Allgemeine reports, the Free State of Bavaria wants to support Kuka financially to preserve as many jobs as possible. Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder and Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger have already held talks with the company for this purpose. The Bavarian state government has offered Kuka state support in the form of research funding and transformation measures. The exact details of the support will be clarified in further discussions between the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the robotics company. However, Minister of Economic Affairs Aiwanger made it clear that a quid pro quo is also expected for the state subsidies. The condition: as many jobs as possible in Bavaria should be preserved.
(olb)
