st. Gallen company ends: mass layoffs at mask maker Flawa

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What a tough hike! On Monday afternoon, management informed 67 employees of Flawa Consumer GmbH how bad things were for the traditional company in eastern Switzerland. The company is about to exit. Mass layoffs are unlikely to be averted.

«A careful and ongoing study of the future economic situation has shown that reorganization can no longer be ignored in order to continue operating Flawa Consumer GmbH in an economically sensible way in the future. In the event of restructuring, up to 56 of the current 67 employees at Flawil could be affected by the layoffs,” a Flawa spokesperson for Blick Information confirmed.

Management initiated a consultation process. “To avoid a complete shutdown of the company in Flawil, members of the management acquired Flawa Consumer GmbH through a holding company,” the spokesperson said.

Founded in 1900

Many of you are probably familiar with the handy little first aid kits from the Flawa company, which are part of essential equipment in most homes. Founded in 1900, Flawa has been able to write a long history of success thanks to its cotton and bandage production. But the company itself has repeatedly had to rely on bandages.

Flawa was about to outsource production to Poland from Flawil SG in 2013 when the hard Swiss franc caused margins to melt during the euro crisis. In 2017, Flawa Consumer GmbH was finally taken over as a subsidiary of the US Cotton Group.

In 2020, the company experienced a pandemic spike. There were very few protective masks in Switzerland. Flawa has produced millions of its own universal masks in 24-hour shifts. At that time the company employed 100 people. There are currently 67 employees.

As part of a strategic realignment of its global operations, former American parent company US Cotton, which is wholly owned by Flawa in Flawil, has decided to no longer order cotton products from Flawa Consumer and move production to Flawil, according to the spokesperson. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Lost orders from US Cotton cannot be replaced by new third party orders in Flawa in the near future. As a result, more than half of Flawa’s sales will be lost.

Source :Blick