Image: APA/BARBARA GINDL
At the headquarters in Dornbirn, 70 employees are expected to lose their jobs over a year, and the first layoffs will take place in November. At the components subsidiary Tridonic, around 100 employees in the production area will be affected by a realignment announced on Friday, the company announced in a press release.
Zumtobel suffered a surprising drop in sales of EUR 26 million in the components segment in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year. As a result, group sales fell to EUR 286 million in the first quarter – after EUR 314 million in the same period last year. “The continued lack of momentum in the components business due to high inventory levels at many customers as well as the tense economic environment continue, and an end to the market weakness in this area is not yet in sight,” it said. The LED products produced in the Tridonic factory in Dornbirn are still under extremely high price pressure.
“It is a painful step for us that in the future we will only be able to continue production in Dornbirn with fewer staff in order to maintain the production site. The economic circumstances, most recently the massive drop in sales in the first quarter of 2023/24, are forcing us to reorganize as soon as possible ” said Tridonic CEO Hugo Rohner. The first layoffs of 30 to 40 employees are also to be announced in November, and further layoffs are planned for January and April 2024. “We will focus our attention on making the workforce reductions socially balanced and are working on a comprehensive social plan,” said Rohner. In addition to a voluntary severance program, a work foundation is also planned.
The aim is to convert the factory on Färbergasse into a “Centre of Production Innovation”. In the future, new production processes will be developed in Dornbirn for all other Tridonic plants worldwide, including robotics and artificial intelligence. The concept of series production of selected new products is also planned, which will subsequently be handed over to other plants in the Tridonic network. In addition, there will be series production of sophisticated products. Conversely, part of the production will be transferred to Niš, Serbia, as part of the reorganization. LED drivers and LED modules have been manufactured there since 2018.
In the Zumtobel lighting factory on Schweizerstrasse in Dornbirn, the group wants to achieve “better production utilization” in the future, but “slight volume adjustments and organizational optimizations” are necessary for this. A total of 70 jobs will be eliminated over a year, including those currently filled by temporary workers. In a first step, 30 to 40 employees will be laid off in November. In these cases too, the company wants to develop socially acceptable solutions for those affected.
The Zumtobel Group achieved sales of EUR 1.209 billion in the 2022/23 financial year. Around 5,500 people were employed, including almost 1,700 at Tridonic (sales: 367.3 million euros).
My themes
For your saved topics were
new articles found.
info By clicking on the icon you can add the keyword to your topics.
info
By clicking on the icon you open your “my topics” page. They have of 15 keywords saved and would have to remove keywords.
info By clicking on the icon you can remove the keyword from your topics.
Add the topic to your topics.
Source: Nachrichten
