"Market collapsed"

Liebherr plans short-time work for 960 employees

The Liebherr Hausgeräte GmbH plant in Lienz, East Tyrol

(Bild: APA/EXPA/Johann Groder)

Liebherr Hausgeräte GmbH in Lienz in East Tyrol plans to put up to 960 employees in production and production-related areas on short-time working. The short-time work is planned for the months of October, November and December and is to be registered with the labor market service in the course of the coming week.

Managing Director Holger König confirmed this to APA on Thursday. A consultation meeting has already been held to discuss the options for short-time working, he said. This was justified by the fact that the market for refrigerators has declined massively following the boom in the coronavirus pandemic. It had "collapsed brutally".

"Persistently declining demand situation"
"The household appliance sector continues to find itself in a difficult market environment," König explained. Due to the continuing decline in demand, the company is still forced to adjust its planning accordingly. "We have already taken various necessary measures at our production site in Lienz to adjust personnel capacities accordingly and reduce our inventory levels," he said.

The current forecasts would now force the company, which employs a total of around 1,340 people in Lienz, to take further measures. These will be decided in "close consultation between the management, HR department and works council" at the Lienz site in order to overcome the challenges together, it was emphasized.

Liebherr expects the situation to ease at the beginning of 2025, as new production lines will be starting up. The company therefore does not want to lose its workforce, but is skeptical as to whether the short-time work application will go through. There is currently not a single company in Austria where short-time working has been approved, especially as unemployment is comparatively low.

Company intends to stick to expansion plans
However, the company intends to stick to its expansion plans in East Tyrol. The largest construction project since the opening started in September 2023. It included a new warehouse with a floor area of 18,000 square meters for finished appliances and an additional administration building with an area of 650 square meters. A new production line is also to be built to increase capacity by 20 percent. This year, Liebherr plans to build around 250,000 refrigerators in East Tyrol.