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Harman International announces its intent to relocate its Martin Professional lighting production facility currently in Frederikshavn, Denmark to Hungary.
Lighting headquarter remains in Aarhus and Martin’s smoke machine factory in the UK would not be affected by the relocation.
“It has been some very tough considerations given Martin’s history in this community and the goodwill we have enjoyed with our outstanding employees. Still, it was a necessary one to improve our leading position in an increasingly competitive marketplace,” says Lars Dige Knudsen, Vice President and General Manager of Martin.
“ Importantly, the Martin Headquarters will remain in Aarhus and will become Harman’s global Center of Competence within dynamic lighting solutions for the entertainment industry and architectural purposes. ”
The move to Hungary is part of a larger Harman strategy to consolidate its European manufacturing operations across its four divisions. HARMAN has more than 20 years of manufacturing experience in Hungary and has grown there to more than 2,200 employees. The new manufacturing site is expected to reach a staff of approximately 400 employees, once the existing production has been transferred.
Today Martin Professional has initiated the formal negotiations with employee representatives (Workers Council) and furthermore the local Labor Market Committee has been informed as per legal requirement.
The manufacturing process in Frederikshavn is expected to run at full capacity the next approximately six months.
“ In connection with the negotiations on the closure of the production facilities in Frederikshavn, our company will focus on securing our employees a fair retirement benefit plan as well as assistance to find other jobs, ” Lars Dige Knudsen states.
The final decision on the relocation is expected to be taken before end of this month.
More informations on : www.harman.com et www.martin.com
