Status på branden i Würth's PCB-produktionsenhed

Würth Elektronik er ved at finde sine ben igen efter den alvorlige brand i PCB-produktionenheden Niedernhall i Tyskland. Ledelse og medarbejdere arbejder sammen om planen for rekonstruktionen (in english).

The so-called 'Steinhaus' (administration building) and the old part of the production, where sales and administration as well as the inner layer fabrication and part of the electroplating line were housed, were not directly damaged and will be fully operation, once the clean-up operation of the soot and smoke has been completed. The clean-up work is already underway, as the cleaning and clear up operations was started in the new year.

Also, the new building, which opened in 2009, has been spared from the fire. Just a few days after the fire, individual processes were resumed little by little.

- Fire doors have spared these buildings from the fire. We are glad that the measures worked, so that the fire could be prevented from spreading. We would like to take this opportunity to once again thank the emergency services and the DRK. They achieved something incredible, says  Daniel Klein, CEO of Würth Elektronik CBT.

Affected employees find 'new' jobs

As reported, other divisions of Würth Elektronik Group, such as Würth Elektronik eiSos in Waldenburg and Würth Elektronik ICS (WE ICS) in Niedernhall-Waldzimmern are working independently and are not affected by the incident.

The geographical proximity of the companies is a significant advantage: The sister company Würth Elektronik ICS was able to create space for 70 jobs in their newly built building. Within a short time, Niedernhall staff from the sales and data preparation was supplied with desks, chairs, computers and phones, as well as the necessary IT infrastructure.

The relocation of production capacity to the sites Rot am See and Schopfheim was planned and undertaken shortly after the fire. WE colleagues from the two plants have been working over the holidays and thus enabled extra capacity. Furthermore, shifts have been expanded and therefore production capacity increased. In both plants an unscheduled investment is being made in new machinery to ensure that the required capacity can be covered. At the start of the week, the first Niedernhall employees started to work in Rot am See and Schopfheim.

The most important asset: the customer

- In this difficult time, we focus more than ever on the customer. To inform them and to seek together for options is our main priority, says Denis Giba, CEO of Würth Elektronik CBT.

- The customer needs PCBs. Together we are working on solutions on how we can provide them. We are aware that many jobs are handled in the coming weeks by other manufacturers. For a salesperson there is nothing worse than not being able to deliver. We have to overcome this dry spell. Therefore we are working closely to see if moving production to one of the other works in Germany or to Asia could come into question. We are exploring all options to find the best way.
 
A specially equipped area on the Würth Elektronik homepage offers customers information about the work at Niedernhall. In addition, the job status can be queried using the online form.

The two managers Giba and Klein persevere with it:
- Now, we are looking forward and working quickly to become active again.

The company has ambitious objectives in terms of the reconstruction of the site. Administration and sales are to move back in March in to the Steinhaus. Following a tender process with production planning agencies, plans for the construction of the destroyed areas should be ready by the end of January. It is expected that the new building will not be built directly on the area affected by fire, so that construction can be started as soon as possible. This saves considerable amounts of time.

- I want to see the excavator working away in March, said Daniel Klein on the employee meeting on Wednesday.