Reasons: Problems with supply chains and employee protection
From April, Birkenstock will initially suspend production at its German production sites for two months. The company said that due to the necessary requirements for employee health protection and significant disruptions in the supply chain, production processes can no longer be carried out sensibly.
“With this interruption of production, our company is doing its part to contain the virus. During the production-free period, we are preparing intensively for a quick resumption of operations. “Now that we have almost completely delivered our SS20 collection worldwide, we can immediately support retailers in all countries with our current storage capacity of ten million pairs as soon as the general situation allows this and the stores reopen,” explains Oliver Reichert , CEO of Birkenstock Group.
“At the same time, with this measure we are responding to the current difficulties in our supplier and logistics chain. Due to the current shutdown across Europe, the supply of our raw materials is currently largely at a standstill. We source most of these from Italy and Spain. These are the countries in Europe that are currently most severely affected by the pandemic, which is also leading to significant loss of work for us. In addition, at the two Saxon locations in Görlitz and Bernstadt there is no longer any free movement for the Polish and Czech commuters in the workforce due to the current border closure in Poland and the Czech Republic,” says Co-CEO Markus Bensberg.
The employees of the production companies in Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse are affected by the registration for short-time work. According to the current status, short-time work is planned for a period of two months. Birkenstock is “significantly increasing” the short-time working allowance in accordance with the works agreements concluded with the works councils in order to compensate for disadvantages for employees. Depending on the remaining workload due to the current situation, other areas of the company could also be affected by short-time work.
