May 21 2004
Following the recent meeting of Pannonplast’s Board of Directors, they have decided to close the Szombathely-based plant of Moldin Ltd., which has been making losses for a couple of years.
The loss of the Szombathely-based plant was HUF 1 billion last year and it exceeded HUF 220 million in the first quarter of 2004.
As a result of the closure Pannonplast has to lay off 230 employees.
Pannonplast Engineering Plastics Plc. created by the merger of Moldin Ltd. and Moldin 2000 Plc. with its headquarters in Székesfehérvár (production plants in Székesfehérvár and in Budapest) will continue to be a determining strategic partner of the Company’s multinational customers.
The management of Pannonplast had been working on the restructuring and the efficiency improvement of the strategically important engineering plastics production in the past period. Simultaneously to the strategy issues regarding the future of the engineering plastics production, the analysis was extended on each plant of the business line including also Moldin’s production plant in Szombathely.
As a result of the intensifying market competition and the globalization, a number of multinational companies in the industry have gradually relocated part of their European production to other regions. As a consequence, in addition to other related companies, the Szombathely-based Moldin has also experienced the continuous decrease of its orders in the past period. Due to the drastic shrinking of the market and as a result the predictably permanent unfavorable capacity-utilization, Pannonplast decided on the closure of Moldin’s Szombathely plant. Only taking large losses continuously could have ensured maintaining the production. The production of automotive and other products will be transferred to the plant in Székesfehérvár.
‘As part of the reorganization carried out within the framework of the strategy published on 24th of March, Pannonplast continuously evaluates the impacts of the taken measures and depending on the results it decides on the consolidation and operation of the production units and production plants. It’s a primary objective that Pannonplast Engineering Plastics Plc. created by the merger of Moldin and Moldin 2000 shall become a balanced, innovative, permanently profit-making company in well-founded markets with the optimal utilization of the available machinery, technology, plants and human resources’ declared Mr. Csaba Zoltán, chairman and CEO.
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