Worker protection at Tadano Demag

A raft of measures has been implemented to minimise the impact of the coronavirus Covid-19 on workers at the Tadano Demag crane factories in Zweibrücken and Lauf, Germany.

Zweibrücken is 5 km from France and people from both countries work there. The workforce of around 1,600 people has agreed to take the week beginning 23 March as holiday as have the workers at the Lauf plant. The move is a bid to help prevent the spread of the virus. A similar approach will follow in April and staff able to work from home will do so.

Supply chain issues have meant a shortage of components, making it difficult to build cranes as normal. initially, production was planned to continue at a reduced level, where the aim was to complete and deliver crane orders already confirmed.

As of 25 March, however, a statement from the company read, ”The temporary cessation of production is unavoidable, because the international situation is increasingly leading to necessary deliveries failing to arrive and is also making the delivery of cranes considerably more difficult. Delays in delivery - of a length that is at present impossible to calculate - must therefore be expected.”

A positive impact of the situation is that the already rapid progress of the integration process between Tadano and Demag, following the former’s acquisition of the latter, will have an opportunity to further accelerate during this slowdown.

Jens Ennen, CEO Tadano Demag & Tadano Faun, commented, “No one can yet foresee how the situation will develop and when we can return to normal operations. However, we are preparing ourselves to be fully available for our customers and ramp up production quickly, as soon as the situation changes.”

More news on the impact of the coronavirus on the construction industry and other equipment manufacturers is regularly updated here.