The company Viadrus from Bohumín in the Karviná region, which is the largest Czech manufacturer of heating technology, will close the foundry and related operations for the production of boilers and radiators. As a result, approximately 250 employees will be laid off in the first half of next year. This was announced on Friday by the Chairman of the Board of Directors Petr Teichmann and the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors Jan Zaškolný. According to them, the company’s main products cannot withstand the current trends in heating.
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At the end of last year, the company had over 370 employees, almost 300 of whom worked in manual occupations. The company will retain only the independent operation of the steel and non-ferrous metal foundry, as well as service support for customers who have purchased or will purchase Viadrus products.
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“It has been clear for a long time that Viadrus’s products, especially the load-bearing segment of cast iron solid fuel boilers, as well as the production process itself, cannot by their very nature fully withstand modern environmental trends in heating,” said Teichmann and Zaškolný.
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Given the growing commitments of the European Union and its Member States, they say the heating technology market will move even further towards alternative environmental technologies and materials.
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In particular, for these reasons, the company’s management adopted a resolution on the intention to end the production of boilers and radiators. It will make the final decision after discussing the plan with the unions.
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“Following this, Viadrus will leave approximately 250 employees in the first half of 2021. At the same time, Viadrus will, of course, meet all its obligations to employees and business partners, ”said Teichmann and Zaškolný.
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According to them, the company will consider possible new investments in the vacated premises. They should cover modern and more environmentally friendly activities.
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Viadrus is a traditional purely Czech manufacturer of gray cast iron products, especially boilers and radiators. It is also one of the major players in the European heating market. It produces about 25,000 boilers and about 300,000 radiators a year.
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In 2019, the company achieved sales of 925 million crowns (53.5 million lower than in 2018). The EBITDA indicator (operating profit before depreciation) rose by 19 million year-on-year to 88 million crowns, and the company made a net profit of 4.8 million crowns last year from a loss of 10.5 million last year. The company is owned by Bonatrans Group Holding.
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The Moravian-Silesian Region is the region with the highest unemployment in the Czech Republic. The share of the unemployed there at the end of October was 5.3 percent, over 43,300 people were out of work. The Labor Office in the region registered more than 13,600 vacancies.
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The redundancies in the region are also planned for one of the largest local companies, the coal company OKD, which will end mining at the Darkov and ČSA mines at the end of February. About 2,000 people will leave the company.
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