FRANCOTYP-POSTALIA LIFTS SHORT-TIME WORKING UNTIL END OF YEAR

 Francotyp-Postalia Holding AG has decided to lift short-time working in most of its production areas until the end of the year. Improvements in the economy and stable order books have enabled the worldwide service provider for professional mail processing solutions to make this move.

The Company introduced short-time working at its Birkenwerder plant in August 2009 as part of the site continuation agreement covering the employees of its subsidiaries Francotyp-Postalia GmbH and Francotyp-Postalia Vertrieb und Service GmbH. The agreement also constrains employees and members of the Management Board to forego certain pay components, at the same time guaranteeing jobs for a total period of 24 months.

Although short-time working has largely been lifted, the Company is continuing its efforts to safeguard the Birkenwerder site on a sustained basis. Among the measures taken, Francotyp-Postalia has realigned the production area, which currently provides work for 120 people. Restructuring has meant that some areas of production had to be closed down, while other restructuring measures are still under consideration. "These extensive structural measures are necessary to ensure that we can keep production going over the long term - even after the site continuation agreement terminates. However, that means we must be able to produce under competitive conditions," explained FP Management Board member Hans Szymanski.