The order volume now exceeds its pre-COVID level in the Swiss machinery industry. But its umbrella organization Swissmem nevertheless says it is worried about the looming energy crisis and is considering moving production more to night or Sunday.
The Swiss machinery, electrical equipment and metals (MEM) industry recorded solid growth in the first half of the year (see box). Both large and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) benefited from the strong economic climate, and this should continue to be the case during the second half of the year.
“A particular and very paradoxical situation”
But the branch sees bleak prospects on the horizon and fears for the development of its activities, its umbrella organization Swissmem warned on Tuesday. “The situation that the industry is experiencing today is quite particular, it is very paradoxical”, underlined its Romand manager in the Forum program.
“We are emerging from an extremely paralyzing Covid crisis, but we have presented very encouraging figures. It is a very good rebound, the order books are full”, explained Philippe Cordonnier. “But this situation is very strongly penalized by the clouds that are accumulating on the horizon. It is linked to the strong franc, to the supply and now to the supply of energy. And the energy costs which are in the process of exploding can penalize our companies very strongly”.
Proposal to be discussed with the social partners
To deal with these prospects, Swissmem suggests several avenues, and in particular that of moving production to night or weekends to avoid excessive consumption peaks during the day.
“It is a proposal for discussion”, specifies its representative Romand. “We have a lot of companies today that work continuously, day and night,” he recalls. “And if we had to face energy consumption problems (…), we would have to be able to smooth out this production. We would like to be able to avoid consumption peaks by spreading production over the evening, night or possibly Sunday, to a temporary period”.
But “we have a social partnership, which we have held on to for many years”, continues Philippe Cordonnier. “This is discussed within our collective agreement for the companies that are subject to it,” he recalls.
“We are probably facing an extraordinary situation like the one we experienced during the pandemic”, further notes this representative of the machinery industry. “We do not want it but if it were to happen, we would like to be ready to put these measures in place”.
Too early to imagine transitional credits
Economiesuisse, for its part, wants transitional credits analogous to Covid loans for companies facing liquidity problems due to rising energy prices. “We are not asking for it right away”, reacts the Swissmem manager in Romandie. “But if the situation were to degenerate, this could be a solution”.
Philippe Cordonnier also denies being too alarmist. “The margins today are greatly eroded (…) If we sell at a loss, the sustainability of the company is not assured. And many companies tell us that they are on the brink of the abyss because the margins are being eroded by rising costs”.
oang with Tania Sazpinar and ats