Crane manufacturer Tadano has announced that it will close its plant in Wallerscheid, one of two facilities it operates in the Zweibrücken area, the other being Dinglerstraße.
In all around 400 jobs are to go between now and mid-2025. To put that in perspective we understand that the company has almost 1,300 employees in the region, many of them based in Dinglerstrasse, where some jobs might also be at risk, depending on how much of the work currently carried out in Wallerscheid is transferred there.
Some of the Wallerschied activity will also be transferred to the company's plant in Lauf, Bavaria, where it plans to invest in new production lines and recruit more staff.
Tadano Demag Wallerscheid
Wallerscheid from the back end
Wallerscheid has 28,533 square metres under cover on a 45 acre site, it is the most modern of the two Zweibrücken sites, and was originally built as an assembly plant, with fabrication and machining carried out at the Dinglerstrasse location, which now has 44,000 square metres of building on a slightly smaller site.
The Dinglerstraße plant
Most of the job losses will naturally involve production related staff, although some sales and administration roles may also be at risk, according to a statement made to the local press.
A spokeswomen said that employees were informed yesterday, adding: “Tadano-Demag management has looked at the market and current business situation, which dictates the need to restructure and reduce production capacity. Following meetings with the Works Council, the Wallerscheid plant will be closed, with production relocated to other facilities, possibly including Dinglerstrasse plant.”
The company has blamed the further restructuring on declining market shares, increasing competitive pressures and ongoing supply chain problems. All of which necessitates further restructuring to make the Zweibrücken plant more sustainable. Wallerscheid production will be transferred to other Tadano plants.
The local mayor Marold Wosnitza has said that the city would provide its full cooperation in helping find an acceptable solution for the plant's employees, adding that he is in close contact with Tadano management, and representatives of the union IG Metal.
Tadano acquired the two Zweibrücken plants when it purchased the Demag mobile crane business from Terex in 2019, it has struggled ever since to bring the plants up to the same efficiency levels as most of its other facilities. These latest moves follow the placing of the company into administration between 2020 and 2021, successfully completing and emerging from the ‘protective shield’ (Schutzschirmverfahren) proceedings in April 2021.
Update
Tadano has issued a formal news statement that adds to the local announcement regarding the closure of the Wallerscheid plant yesterday.
It says: “The intended changes will affect Tadano’s European business operations and are aimed at establishing a framework that maximises the strength of the company’s combined German and Japanese manufacturing capabilities.”
“The envisaged changes in production are designed to enable the company to better respond to the needs of the customers and to ensure that its products and services remain market leading in the longer term. They will also serve to improve the speed of delivery in the production of cranes as well as repair and service work.”
“In an effort to streamline production capacity in Germany, it is intended to close the Wallerscheid production facility in Zweibrücken and realign production accordingly. The management of Tadano’s subsidiary Tadano Demag will begin consultations with the works council. As a result of this planned realignment, items produced at the Wallerscheid facility will be moved to the Dinglerstrasse factory along with the Tadano Faun plant in Lauf and a Tadano facility in Japan.”
“Tadano has maintained production facilities in Germany for more than 30 years, and they have become a strong pillar of Tadano’s culture and its ambition to deliver high quality and innovative solutions for its global customers. The management recognises the great potential of its German production sites, which will continue to play a key part for the success of the global Tadano production network in the future.”
Tadano has said that it currently has the capacity to build between 750 and 800 All Terrain cranes a year. While demand for its All Terrains totals around 450 units, with little chance of that growing much in the short term. With margins on the All Terrain cranes among the lowest in its product range, it also has little incentive to push them too much harder.
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