SSKFExecutive Cockpit

Workforce & Manufacturing 360

The factory & shop-floor workforce — 37,271 employees by cluster: capacity utilization, right-first-time and skilling, and the capacity already paid for but sitting idle.

AB SKF (SKF Group) · FY2025 (Jan–Dec 2025, audited anchor)
World's largest bearing maker today — clear #1 in industrial bearings
37,271 employees · 90+ sites · 130 countries
Executive read· the answer, then the moves

The workforce runs at 84% capacity utilization vs a 93% target — 9 points of already-paid capacity sitting idle, worth ~SEK 785 M of throughput with zero new lines. The idle capacity is concentrated where the Americas footprint consolidation and the Vertevo separation transfers are still in motion; closing it converts straight to margin.

3 of 3 headline metrics improving vs prior · still off target: Factory Uptime / OEE (weighted) 84.0% vs 90.0%

Do now — ranked by urgency
  1. 1
    Lift utilization in Americas factories & logistics firstAct now
    Why it matters

    Americas factories & logistics runs lowest at 82% utilization with 180 open reqs and 85% skilled — the thinnest bench and the biggest idle slice.

    What's driving it
    • Americas factories & logistics 82% utilization vs 93% target
    • 6 of 6 clusters below target
    FYI
    • 6,800 employees · 180 open reqs · 85% skilled
    • Same clusters carrying the Americas consolidation & Vertevo separation transfers — accelerate onboarding
  2. 2
    Capture the ~SEK 785 M idle-capacity prizeWatch
    Why it matters

    ~9 points of idle, already-paid capacity across 37,271 employees — running it adds ~SEK 785 M of throughput with no new lines.

    What's driving it
    • Capacity utilization 84% vs 93% target
    • Right-first-time 96% vs 99% target (3pt gap)
    FYI
    • 37,271 employees, 86% skilled
    • Better line balancing + less rework converts straight to margin
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● LiveBuilt forSVP Commercial & Operations· utilization & hiring gapsIndustrial region presidents· their factory productivityCFO· capacity = margin

The workforce is a largely fixed cost whether or not the lines run full. At 84% capacity utilization vs a 93% target, several points of already-paid capacity sit idle — the single biggest operational lever after pricing, and it's concentrated where the Americas footprint consolidation and the Vertevo separation transfers are still in motion. Headcount is down −3.8% to 37,271 under the ~BSEK 2 rightsizing — the European cost base coming down.

Data backing: workforce (by cluster) · kpi (capacity utilization, right-first-time, MTTR)
37,271
Employees
registered, 31 Dec 2025
84%
Capacity utilization
target 93%
96%
Right-first-time
target 99%
86%
Skilled
trained / certified
710
Open requisitions
hiring pipeline
The workforce, by cluster

Productivity & coverage

Capacity utilization, right-first-time and skilling by cluster — the watch clusters match the separation & footprint map.

ClusterEmployeesCapacity utilRight-first-timeMTTRSkilledOpen reqs
EMEA factories & engineering16,00084%96%5.8h88%220
Americas factories & logistics6,80082%95%6.4h85%180
China & Northeast Asia plants5,60086%97%5.2h87%90
Automotive (SKF Vertevo) — transferring to stand-alone4,00083%95%6h82%60
India & Southeast Asia plants3,90088%96%5.6h84%120
Corporate, R&D & technology97185%98%92%40
The capacity prize

84% → 93% utilization

Running the idle capacity adds throughput with zero new lines.

+SEK 785 M

~9 points of idle, already-paid capacity across 37,271 employees. Closing it — better line balancing, less rework, and faster skilling onto WCM-automated lines — converts straight to margin. Pair with right-first-time (96%→99%): every avoided rework lot is pure profit.

Where to act

Lowest utilization + thinnest bench

Same clusters carrying the footprint consolidation & separation transfers.

Americas factories & logistics
6,800 employees · 180 open reqs · 85% skilled
Utilization
82%
Automotive (SKF Vertevo) — transferring to stand-alone
4,000 employees · 60 open reqs · 82% skilled
Utilization
83%
EMEA factories & engineering
16,000 employees · 220 open reqs · 88% skilled
Utilization
84%
Corporate, R&D & technology
971 employees · 40 open reqs · 92% skilled
Utilization
85%
China & Northeast Asia plants
5,600 employees · 90 open reqs · 87% skilled
Utilization
86%
India & Southeast Asia plants
3,900 employees · 120 open reqs · 84% skilled
Utilization
88%

Not a coincidence: Americas factories & logistics and Automotive (SKF Vertevo) — transferring to stand-alone run lowest — the same clusters carrying the Americas footprint consolidation and the Vertevo separation transfers. Accelerating skilling and line balancing lifts utilization and right-first-time together.