Nov 04, 2026

Schaeffler Humanoid Orders Reach €400 Million as It Plans 3,460 Job Cuts in Europe

On November 3, 2026, Schaeffler announced plans for a net reduction of 3,460 positions in Europe, 2,660 of them in Germany, and the closure of five sites. In the same announcement, COO Jochen Schröder named humanoid robotics and defense as the group's promising growth fields. Two weeks earlier, the German supplier said global incoming orders for humanoid robotics had risen to about €400 million.

The European Restructuring in Numbers

The plan carries one-time expenses of about €480 million and is expected to save about €300 million a year by 2030, with most measures scheduled for 2027 and 2028. The sites due to close are Dortmund, Morbach, Berlin and Schwalbach in Germany, and Herstal in Belgium. Dortmund and Morbach belong to the Powertrain & Chassis business and make combustion-engine products. Schaeffler also reported nine-month revenue of €17.48 billion, with EBIT before special items up 6.5% to €794 million. The company says new positions in its growth fields should offset part of the reduction, but it gave no number.

Where Schaeffler Is Building Humanoid Capacity

The €400 million figure covers orders, which are separate from recognized revenue. According to Humanoids Daily, robotics made up less than 1% of group sales in 2025. Two capacity moves are public so far:

Taicang lighthouse factory: opened on October 20 with about 7,500 m² of floor space. It produces joint modules for humanoid robots, including actuators, and Schaeffler describes it as the start of its mass production of these components. Six humanoid robots work across five stations, handling parts staging and sorting, joining, inspection, labeling and packaging. Schaeffler added two customers in Greater China in the third quarter.
Formed strain wave gearboxes: production is planned to start in Germany in 2027 and expand to other regions later. Compared with machined gearboxes, Schaeffler claims manufacturing costs more than 25% lower and material use more than 75% lower, at comparable torque and efficiency. These are company figures. Schaeffler also says it has supplied more than 2 million formed strain wave gearboxes to automotive customers over the past 10 years.

What This Means for the Joint Supply Chain

An automotive Tier 1 brings high-volume manufacturing experience and an existing plant network to humanoid robotics. Schaeffler's product plans suggest that competition is moving toward unit cost and batch consistency, with the machining cost of strain wave gearboxes as one clear target.

When robot builders compare joint suppliers, they can look past peak torque and ask for service life data at rated load, batch consistency data and committed lead times. EYOU supplies the RHU humanoid harmonic actuator for high-precision positions and the RP humanoid planetary actuator for leg positions, both as integrated joint modules, and delivered 95,000 units in 2025.