In line with a decision by the Executive Board of Knorr-Bremse and the Management Board of Hasse & Wrede, the transfer of production of torsional vibration dampers for commercial vehicles and stationary engines to Liberec in the Czech Republic will not go ahead. Consequently, Hasse & Wrede’s Berlin-Marzahn plant with its rich industrial heritage will be retained. An initiative by the Hasse & Wrede Works Council via-à-vis the Executive Board of the family firm which is not governed by collective bargaining made it possible to provide this job security.
“Together with the Works Council, who in the last few days have joined with the workforce to draw up further proposed improvements, we have been able to agree on a joint solution which ensures that Hasse & Wrede and the associated 109 jobs at the company will remain in place,” said Klaus Deller, Chairman of the Executive Board of Knorr-Bremse AG. “While the additional contributions by the workforce do not fully offset the commercial impact of dispensing with the transfer solution, we have nevertheless decided that Hasse & Wrede will remain in Berlin. This is intended not least to support the place where our company was founded, as Berlin is currently going through a difficult period in terms of employment policy. It also shows that Knorr-Bremse can work directly with its internal codetermination partners to achieve good results between management and workforce that ensure the company’s competitiveness and at the same time safeguard jobs. As a family-owned company that sets high standards in terms of fairness and responsibility, we have acted in line with our corporate values.”
The transfer of production from Berlin to Liberec in the Czech Republic and to locations in North America and Asia was announced in February 2017 and was originally due to commence early in 2018 and be completed by the end of 2018. Specific scopes of production for customers in Japan and North America will be transferred to Knorr-Bremse plants in the vicinity of these customers as originally planned. However, this transfer does not affect the permanent workforce of Hasse & Wrede in Berlin. The partial transfer of production to North America and Asia will meet the domestic content requirements of engine manufacturers there, as well as safeguarding Hasse & Wrede’s business with these customers.
Caption: Damper production to continue at Hasse & Wrede in Berlin. | © Knorr-Bremse
Knorr-Bremse is the leading manufacturer of braking systems and supplier of additional sub-systems for rail and commercial vehicles, with sales totaling approximately EUR 5.5 billion in 2016. In 30 countries, some 25,000 employees develop, manufacture, and service braking, entrance, control, and energy supply systems, HVAC and driver assistance systems, as well as steering systems, and powertrain and transmission control solutions. As a technology leader, through its products the com- pany has been making a decisive contribution to greater safety by road and rail since 1905. Every day, more than one billion people around the world put their trust in systems made by Knorr-Bremse.
