Rationalisation of operations at overhead crane and hoist manufacturer Demag Cranes & Components (DCC) will result in the closure of its plant in Bad Bergzabern by the end of 2004, the company has announced.
Production of chain hoists will be moved from Bad Bergzabern to its headquarters in Wetter.
Demag has also decided to end production of process cranes in Wetter and relocate this to Slany in the Czech Republic.
Production currently at Chalons-en-Champagne in France will move to eastern Germany and the Czech Republic.
The restructuring measures will affect around 800 employees in Germany, including 375 at Bad Bergzabern, according to the Rheinpfalz Online news service.
Meanwhile, efficiency measures in the USA by DCC in recent months have included a round of redundancies and the company’s withdrawal from Promat 2003, North America’s largest materials handling trade fair, being held in Chicago in February.
In July 2002 private equity investor Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) of the USA took 81% ownership of DCC, with former owner Siemens retaining 19%.
