The decision supports plans by the executive board for long-term independence and emphasizes need for restructuring.

A statement says representatives of the owners as well as employee representatives from all production sites have endorsed the plan, and management and employee representatives will now begin consultations on how they are to be implemented.

the planned measures.

The executive board agreed the corporate strategy – which involves the loss of 500 jobs – with investors last month. It assigns the three German production sites ‘clear core competencies’, with the main focus firmly on growth markets and services. The Augsburg site will concentrate exclusively on manufacturing complex parts and assembly of web-offset presses. Offenbach will focus on sheetfed in the same way, while Plauen will make products for manroland and other customers.

The Offenbach foundry will supply both sectors with cast parts, and group functions will be centralised at Augsburg.

A new technical and industrial services business with about 300 employees will focus on industrial consulting and the subcontracting of its technical experts.

Chief executive Gerd Finkbeiner says the measures are expected to lead to the loss of about 500 jobs, mainly in administration, bringing total employees to about 6000 by the end of 2012. “Our objective is to keep job losses at a socially acceptable level,” he says.

The measures scale down the company to operate with annual orders of 1.4 billion Euros from its core business, about 30 per cent less than in the ‘high’ of 2007.

Finkbeiner says the two new business sectors – industrial production and technical and industrial services - will also open up new business opportunities. Savings of about 50 million Euros a year will be fully realised from 2013.