Boch has announced a series of measures in the face of the crisis, including the cutting of 900 jobs worldwide. Full details will be released on Friday afternoon, but there is growing concern that the Luxembourg production site may be closed, with the loss of 230 jobs.

The board of Villeroy & Boch has revealed that global demand for its products in the first two months of 2009 fell by 20%. Despite recording an increase in turnover of 3.8% in the first half of 2008, a sharp decline in demand left the company facing a fall of 1% over the year. The board has now signed off a package of measures it says will increase the ceramic manufacturer’s competitiveness. These include the specialisation of production sites, the creation of what it calls “centres of competence” and the accelerated introduction of automated production lines. But it also includes cutting some 900 jobs in its global workforce of 9,250. The company says that once the full package of measures has been implemented, it will result in annual savings of some 50 million euros per year. But the cost of implementing the measures will cost 60 million euros in 2009.

Astonishment & sadness

There is no specific mention of Luxembourg in a press release issued on Friday morning. Villeroy & Boch press and public relations manager Almut Hähner-Ural would not comment on the situation at the Luxembourg plant before details emerged at a press conference at the group’s headquarters in Mettlach, Germany on Friday afternoon. However, the LCGB and OGBL unions have been called to a meeting with Charles-Antoine de Theux, manager of the Luxembourg site. Further evidence that the site will be closed cam with a statement from the Luxembourg City retailer’s association, UCVL. “It is with astonishment and deep sadness that the Union commercial de la Ville de Luxembourg has learned of the closure of the Villeroy & Boch factory in Luxembourg City,” the statements reads.

Villeroy & Boch is one of the oldest manufacturers in Luxembourg – the first production site was set up in Septfontaines in 1767. In 2001 the site employed over 700 people. In Germany Villeroy & Boch has already placed some 1,800 employees on short-term work. The UCVL says it hope that Villeroy & Boch’s two retail outlets in the city will not be affected by the cutbacks. The LCGB and OGBL unions will now be looking to ensure that the 300 employees affected by the closure will suffer as little as possible. “We must hope that the company fulfils its social responsibility,” said OGBL spokesman Alain Mattioli on RTL radio. RTL reports that Minister for the Economy Jeannot Krecké is “angry” at the news, and that he has a feeling that Villeroy & Boch is using the crisis as an excuse to execute plans already made to shut down the manufacturing plant in Luxembourg