The ENCI works in Maastricht, southern Netherlands, will shortly start a large-scale reorganisation, it was reported on June 29, 2004. Forced redundancies are not to be ruled out, an ENCI spokesperson said. ENCI, owned by German concrete producer Heidelberg Cement AG, has to start operating more efficiently, as a result of the stronger competition from Germany. According to the spokesperson, the German cement is much cheaper than the cement manufactured in the Netherlands or Belgium. As a result of the competition from Germany, ENCI has already lost a few percentage points of its market share in the Benelux.
ENCI has merged its cement factories in Lixhe, northeastern Belgium, and Maastricht under the name Cementindustrie Belgie Nederland (CeBeNe) on January 1, 2004. Through this move a number of functions became unnecessary. ENCI plans to merge more establishments in the future as part of the reorganisation. ENCI has informed its personnel about the reorganisation plans. The company will shortly start negotiating with the trade unions.
