Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The manufacturer of rapid diagnostic testing, Biosynex, has decided to reshore part of the assembly of its COVID-19 screening tests to its Illkirch-Graffenstaden site (Bas-Rhin). The company has started to hire and is planning to recruit around 100 employees. Initially, the tests will be assembled manually, then the process will become more automated and by the end of the summer the site will be 'as competitive as the Chinese', said the president of Biosynex. The company has already signed a purchase agreement for a manufacturing robot, which alone will produce one million tests per month. China will still continue to supply the raw material (the production of antibodies, which is the heart of the system).
A second production site is due to start up in Lyon. In addition, Biosynex hopes in the long term to be able to produce nearly 5 million tests per month. Local test production will also avoid the logistical bottlenecks that the company has experienced, which have caused many delays in the delivery of tests to France.
Eurofound (2020), Biosynex, Reshoring in France, factsheet number 100603, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/100603.