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Würth Elektronik ceasing plant in Pforzheim
Relocation and partial move of staff and equipment
The Würth Elektronik Group will cease plant of Würth El-
ektronik FLATcomp Systems (FCS) in Pforzheim by end of
August 2012 for economic reasons. Alternative job offers in
other business units of the Würth Elektronik Group at differ-
ent locations were made to the 29 employees. Business op-
erations, 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 business model – production and sales of refined printed cir-
cuit boards – was not profitable any more in Pforzheim. The
business year 2011 had been closed with a slump in revenues of
- 18,3 % compared to previous year and a continued negative
trend in the business year 2012. A substantial negative result
had been recorded for 2010 already. 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 technol-
ogy under the name Würth Elektronik FLATcomp Systems. The
operational infrastructure, however, turned out to be too over-
sized and costly. Thus, Würth Elektronik’s executive board con-
sidered a complete shut-down of plant Pforzheim as inevitable.
All options for keeping the employees at other locations of Würth
Elektronik GmbH & Co. KG and within the Würth Group had
been evaluated intensively and discussed in person with the
concerned employees.
By now, the company offers alternatives to dismissal to more
than half of the staff. For the remaining employees, a redundancy
program had been arranged in close coordination between gen-
eral management, works council and trade union; it will gener-
ously absorb consequences for the affected employees.
The printing lines will be relocated to the sites Würth Elektronik
GmbH & Co KG in Schopfheim / Black Forest and to Würth El-
ektronik ICS GmbH & Co KG in Oehringen/ Hohenlohe from
where the customer service will be continued.
Any option for future use of the production building in Pforzheim as well the possibilities of sale to new owners are now under re- „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” explains FLATcomp Sys-tems Executive Manager Dr. Klaus Wittig. The Corporate Group Würth Elektronik with its headquarters in Niedernhall (Hohenlohe) is a legally independent corporation in the Würth Group with a workforce of about 6.200 all over the world and a sales turnover of about 699 million Euros in 2011, whereof 128 million Euros had been generated in the printed cir-cuit board segment. With 16 production sites all over the world, Würth Elektronik is acting in different markets with four business divisions: Printed circuit boards, intelligent systems, passive components / elec-tromechanical components, photovoltaic. Since 2009, Würth Elektronik FLATcomp Systems GmbH & Co. KG in succession of Würth Elektronik Pforzheim GmbH & Co. KG had been dealing with the upgrading of printed circuit boards by means of polymer technology. Before, Würth Elektronik had been producing printed circuit boards at their premises in Pforzheim. Executives Würth Elektronik FLATcomp Systems GmbH & Co.KG: Jürgen Klohe, Jörg Murawski, Denis Giba, Daniel Klein Polymer print: Würth Elektronik’s brand name FLATcomp in the PCB industry stands for embedded flat printed conductive polymer compo-nents. Customized system solutions based on such conductive polymer had been developed and produced in Pforzheim, such as shielding, key pads, switching surfaces, potentiometers and printed resistors, mainly for automotive applications. Those com-ponents can be positioned on the PCB’s outer and inner layer. Würth Elektronik production plant had been dealing with the pol-ymer technology’s development since 1981.

Source: http://www.we-online.fr/web/fr/index.php/show/media/05_intelligente_systeme/presse_6/PR_Wuerth_Elektronik_FCS_08082012.pdf