Radiology vendor Agfa to eliminate 145 positions amid continued declines in film business
Radiology vendor Agfa on Thursday announced plans to lay off 145 employees as it continues to grapple with declining demand in its medical film business. The move is part of over $29 million (USD) in cost reductions, revealed last month.
The Mortsel, Belgium-based company said the cost-cutting measures are an extension of previous reductions, announced in November 2024. Back then, Agfa said it needed to cut over $52.7 million in costs, potentially impacting up to 530 positions in its home city including blue- and white-collar workers.
However, the company said Thursday that declines have accelerated in the sector, necessitating “additional measures to adjust the cost base of its traditional film activities.”
“The sharp acceleration of the decline of the global film markets demands strong measures to safeguard the future of our company,” Pascal Juéry, CEO of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, said in a statement Dec. 4. “We will do our utmost to maintain a constructive social dialogue with the social partners involved and keep the period of uncertainty caused by this announcement as short as possible.”
Agfa plans to execute the workforce reductions across 2026 and 2027. It hopes to avoid as many forced layoffs as possible by relying on natural attrition and shifting workers in eliminated positions over to other open roles.
Agfa is a leading imaging and information technology solutions provider with 160 years of operations and over 4,800 employees, including 2,300 in Belgium, according to estimates shared last year. It runs three divisions covering radiology solutions, healthcare IT and digital print. In radiology, products include analog and digital imaging systems, with Agfa producing dry digital and X-ray film for medical exams. Each week, more than 3 million radiographic scans are carried out with Agfa equipment, according to the company’s website.
The previously announced plans from last year to reduce 530 positions were eventually trimmed to 470 after discussions with trade unions, according to local news. A company representative said Agfa is again entering negotiations with labor groups on how to execute this latest round of reductions.
Agfa first hinted at the forthcoming reductions in its quarterly earnings announcement last month. It estimated the new round of cost reductions will bring an additional cost savings of about $29.1 million. Agfa also is exploring potential redevelopment of part of its site in Mortsel, Belgium.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.