Wetzikon, Switzerland
The company has elected to focus more on toner cartridge and toner powder production, with 45 jobs set to be lost at its Wetzkion site.
According to Cash.ch, which followed up a report by Swiss newspaper Zurich Oberland, the company has blamed the “strong franc” in Switzerland and the European recession for the changes, following a previous set of job cuts last year in which 160 lost their jobs.
Pelikan sent out a letter to its major customers and suppliers in which it noted that it had “decided to strengthen” its “know-how in the field of toner technologies, thereby safeguarding the location in Wetzikon”. The company added that its focus at the site in future “will be completely on the production of reprocessed toner modules and toner powder” under the Prime Printing Technologies brand.
Pelikan added that its private label business will in turn be “further expanded”, and that because it needs to “increase [this] operative business”, all its “other activities and group functions […] will be outsourced”. A worker’s union argued after the previous job cuts in 2012 that the social plan presented by the company was “insufficient”, though there has been no comment yet on these latest cuts.
The company noted in a statement to the news outlets that it aims “to keep as many jobs” and to “ensure the future viability of the company”, stating that the job cuts were necessary. The 45 employees were notified on Friday 11 January, and will be given redundancy. Cash.ch added that they would be supported under a social plan to find a new role, according to Pelikan, which notes that the measures will help secure its long-term operations in Switzerland.