Würth Elektronik to close German plant

The facility hired 29 employees. Business operations, refinement of printed circuit boards by polymer print will be relocated to other business units and corporate divisions within the Würth Elektronik GmbH & Co. KG. The company said the business model – production and sales of refined printed circuit boards – was no longer profitable in Pforzheim. The 2011 business year closed with a slump in revenues of 18.3 % compared to previous year and a continued negative trend was apparent in the business year 2012. “Among other things, the production building was oversized. It had been a production site for printed circuit boards until 2009. Afterwards, the electronic expert specialised in PCB refinement and polymer print technology under the name Würth Elektronik FLATcomp Systems. The operational infrastructure, however, turned out to be too oversized and costly. Thus, Würth Elektronik’s executive board considered a complete shut-down of plant Pforzheim as inevitable,” a statement by the company said. The company said it has offered alternatives to dismissal to more than half of the staff. For the remaining employees, a redundancy program has been arranged. The printing lines will be relocated to the sites Würth Elektronik GmbH & Co KG in Schopfheim / Black Forest and to Würth Elektronik ICS GmbH & Co KG in Oehringen/ Hohenlohe from where the customer service will be continued. “We deeply regret that the business model in Pforzheim did not work anymore, particularly with regard to the Würth Elektronik staff’s extraordinary commitment to their work. All the more, I am happy that such a big part of the workforce will accompany our step to a new future and that we are able to offer an appropriate social action to the other colleagues” said FLATcomp Systems Executive Manager Dr. Klaus Wittig.