Franke closes three factories worldwide

19 Apr, 16

Company to open plant with bigger capacity for coloured sinks in Slovenia

Franke has announced closure of its factories in Scotland, Holland and Slovakia over the next 18-20 months.

It will transfer its granite coloured sink manufacturing to a new, state-of-the-art plant in Slovakia in Spring 2017.

The factory will provide greater capacity for its Fragranite and Tectonite models, with predicted sales growth in both the mid to high-end and mid to low-end markets.

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CEO of Franke Kitchen Systems, Lars Voekel said: “The new, single plant will support our existing sales and distribution operations throughout Europe in the future and will bring significant advantages for our customers.

“The increased capacity and efficiency will enable us to provide a far greater flexibility, responsiveness and choice for customers and will also be a focus for on-going research and development as we continue Franke’s track record of innovation.

“The major reassurance for our customers will be the guarantee of a smooth continuity of service and continuing access to all the brands they have come to rely on.”

In addition, Franke will open a new warehousing and distribution facility for the Falkirk area. The company’s Manchester-based sales and customer service, which supports the Franke, Carron Phoenix and KWC brands, is not affected.

Following the announcement to staff at the three factories, discussions are on-going with unions.It sees 361 staff affected, with 211 currently employed in Falkirk, 50 in Holland and 100 in Slovakia.

However, the new plant in Slovakia is expected to employ 250 people, plus 15 people will staff the warehousing and distribution centre in Falkirk.

Operations director (coloured sinks) for Franke, Bart Doornkamp said: “Consultation with the trade unions is a priority to ensure that we undertake an orderly, phased closure of the plant by December 2017. Dependent on those discussions, we are hopeful that there will be no redundancies before the start of the year.

“We are committed to working with the unions to finalise appropriate terms for employees and, wherever possible, to agree support to help them find new jobs and training opportunities. We are confident we will reach agreement on these issues in the coming weeks.”