Parent company of Neff, Bosch, Siemens and Gaggenau BSH has announced production at factories in Europe, Turkey and North America will be suspended for three weeks.

It is due to the growing number of global restrictions to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 and to protect health and safety of its employees.

The temporary suspension of production in the BSH factories in Europe will begin on March 28, 2020 and will start in North America on March 30.

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In the factories in Turkey, the production interruption is expected to start on April 4 and could have an impact on employees who are not directly employed in production or at other locations.

In a press statement, BSH reported: “This measure is being co-ordinated and implemented with the respective employee representatives on a country and site-specific basis and in compliance with the legal framework.

“Employees will be informed about the planned actions in a timely manner.

“BSH will continue to define appropriate measures to enable increased protection of all employees against the risk of infection by the coronavirus.

“The company will also inform customers, supplier and partners about the planned procedure.”

It further reported: “At BSH, the effects of the spread of the Coronavirus are becoming obvious too. The company is experiencing a significant decline in demand, affecting almost all product categories and markets.”

However, it stated: “BSH will use the interruption in production to be able to meet customer demand promptly and in the best possible way when the market recovers.

BSH UK & Ireland has stated it was prepared for this outcome and “does not envisage any wide-scale stock shortages during this period”.

It reported BSH UK & Ireland is remaining in close contact with trade partners and customers throughout this time.

The UK & Ireland business has also stated it is in “regular discussions with logistics partners to ensure operations can be adapted quickly and appropriately to the fast-changing environment and latest government advice.”