One of Europe's largest glulam producers is closing its plant in the Austrian town of Rangersdorf, with three of its other plants taking over the custom glulam made there. That is according to the Hasslacher Group, which said last week that the plant never had enough work, despite the group’s “intensive efforts”.

The Hasslacher Group is relocating the production of its subsidiary, Gemson GmbH, in Rangersdorf to its existing sites in Stall im Mölltal, Sachsenburg and Hermagor. This move comes against the backdrop of a four-year downturn in the building construction market, which no longer allows for sufficient capacity utilisation at the Rangersdorf site.

A shrinking building construction sector
“When we joined Gemson a few years ago, we assumed the market was growing. In fact, the building construction sector – which is vital to the timber industry – has been shrinking for four years running as a result of the global crises. “Despite our best efforts, we have not been able to achieve the necessary capacity utilisation at the Rangersdorf site under these circumstances,” says Christoph Kulterer, CEO and owner of the Hasslacher Group.

The majority of staff will remain with the company
The machinery from Rangersdorf will be relocated to the plants in Stall im Mölltal, Sachsenburg and Hermagor by the end of the year and integrated into the existing production processes there. This will shorten internal transport distances and reduce transport costs within the group.

Of the 40 employees in Rangersdorf, the majority will continue to work for the Hasslacher Group in Sachsenburg or Stall. Individual meetings with all staff members are being held this week. A decision on how the 6,000-square-metre hall in Rangersdorf will be reused is also expected to be finalised by the end of the year.

About the Hasslacher Group
Hasslacher is a globally active family-run business specialising in intelligent and integrated system solutions for modern timber construction. With around 2,000 employees, the company manufactures products in the areas of sawn timber, planed timber, glued laminated timber, cross-laminated timber and solid structural timber. Around 950 people are employed at the plants in Upper Carinthia.

Source: dolomitenstadt.at